Harry Potter and the Anthem of Kairos
by Nightlit
Summary: 6th year, spoilers from all 6 books. How can mere students stand against an army? Can we win this war? An old man ponders this things as he stares out a window at an unfamiliar skyline preparing for the new year and the unknowns it would bring...
1. Dumbledore's Weapon

**Harry Potter and the Anthem of Kairos**

Disclaimer: Based on characters, events and locations created by J.K. Rowling. She owns everything that appeared in one of her books (Harry, Hogwarts, etc.)

Wesley Tinderspoon, Roland Port, and all other characters that do not show up in J.K. Rowling's books are my additions.

Written by Takeshi Templin

Chapter 1: Dumbledore's Weapon

The wind blew outside the window on the otherwise calm day. Albus Dumbledore was sitting in a quaint office, thoughts had been going through his head as he stared out the window. The modern skyline was different from the countryside he was used to.

The walls of the room he was in were a sullen sandy color and there was a bookshelf on his left. Other than that and the average sized desk covered in random office supplies the office was barren. He had come here by stepping out of a broom closet, which was somehow attached to his more usual floo network. Apparition, like at Hogwarts, was warded against.

The man he had been waiting for was now sitting on the other side of the desk twiddling his hands while half heartedly and using a very oddly normal looking computer. He was a short old man who managed to make balding look good, his head surrounded by a mixture of gray and brown hair around dark eyes with piercing specks of red. He was wearing a button down shirt and denim pants, making him look more like an office worker then the principle of a prestigious American wizarding school.

"To what honor do I deserve this meeting?" Said the man "Considering the effort it must have taken to get here. It must be important."

"It is Roland. In fact it is quite urgent." Dumbledore looked tired, like he hadn't gotten enough sleep for many days. His eyes were drooping slightly and his hair had dulled from gleaming silver to merely a bright shade of white. "As you are probably quite aware Voldemort is back again. And, as you may have guessed, I will in fact be needing that thing we talked about."

"So that wasn't an unbased rumor then, like your ministry played it out to be. The scourge of the European magical world is back again eh?" Roland looked quite unimpressed. He didn't even flinch at the use of the Dark Lord's name. Instead he started drumming his hands on the table and his eyes started wandering around Dumbledore's unkept appearance, at least unkept for how he remembered his old friend.

"Yes, and I am quite aware that his reign of terror did not quite reach your doorstep, Voldemort never having gotten to a point where he was ready to cross the sea."

Dumbledore's outburst had an equally unimpressive effect on Roland as the Dark Lord's name and instead of responding to it as many people would have with offense or fear if they knew the wizard who stated them, he simply stopped drumming his hand, looked Dumbledore in the eyes again and said, "Oh yes his encounter with the 'boy who lived'. What's his name…Harry Potter? I hear he goes to Hogwarts? And that he has done many things quite beyond his age. Hmm…Now there are a few stories I'd like to hear." For the first time Roland seemed interested in the conversation. He leaned over and put his elbow on his desk listening intently looking ever more so into Dumbledore's soft blue eyes.

"I am sorry my friend but I cannot delve greatly into the events of the last few years. I have not the time nor the safety net around you to do such a thing."

Roland leaned back in his chair, obviously disappointed but not in the least bit offended. "Oh well then… But you will tell me at some point won't you?" He had a pleading tone to his voice. Like he never saw anything interesting happen anymore and this was a simple bit of excitement in an otherwise boring existence.

"Of course I will, but back to business. I am in a great hurry and I will be needing it quickly."

"Ok I will need to send a caretaker along with it. I hope you understand."

"Of course I do. And while young Tinderspoon is there he will be a student and have all the respect he deserves."

"Ah, right Wesley. You see the thing about it is…" For the first time in the conversation Roland looked slightly uncomfortable. He began tapping his finger more forcefully now and he looked above Dumbledore's head instead, apparently unable to continue meeting his gaze.

"I am quite aware of Wesley Tinderspoon's situation. I have already dealt with the matter." Dumbledore was still calm but obviously starting to get impatient, his gaze a bit more forceful then before and he had moved the tips of his fingers together propping his elbows up on Roland's desk. "I really am in a hurry so could you fetch it and it's caretaker now? Or shall I come back at a later date?"

"It would actually be better if you took him now. He is most likely packed his school supplies to go home and so is most likely ready to go."

"Will there be a problem with him adjusting?"

"Possibly, although he is fairly good at adjustment, given his situation and he has been informed that something like this might happen previously."

"And his parents?"

"They have been informed, and they frankly don't have any misgivings about it. They still never really got used to their son being…"

"Too true too true, then I will wait here while you please go collect him." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair the tips of his fingers still together in front of his chest, the desk no longer supporting his robed elbows.

"I will be back in a few minutes then." Roland got up and left the room through the door opposite him immediately behind Dumbledore. Dumbledore sighed and checked one thing off his mental list of things to do.

It was then that an owl swooped up to the window behind Roland's desk. Dumbledore quickly vanished the glass so it could get in then materialized it again.

He groaned as he read it. It was another thing to worry about and he really didn't have the time. There was only one real solution. And it perfectly meshed with what he already had planned. A certain someone was going to get a surprise this summer. A surprise that would likely be anything but pleasant…


	2. Unexpected Unpleasantness

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 2: Unexpected Unpleasantness

A boy lay awake in his bed. He was normal enough looking about the right shape if not a few sizes too small. The only thing that set this boy apart from any other boy was the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Harry Potter was too irritated to even pick up his glasses, having had yet another dream about Voldemort. He had no way of knowing whether there was any truth to these dreams and so he now barely remembered them. _Apathy is a form of Occlumency I suppose._ He mused to himself. _Cynicism too… Although I wouldn't want to find out if he can cast Imperius on me from far. I have been able to shake it off so far but that may change._

He let his thoughts drift to his OWL results that he got the previous Thursday. He was surprised that he had even gotten an E on his Potions OWL, but he had hoped for an O. He would now have to rethink his future as an Auror as there was no way that Snape was going to let Harry into his class without the HIGHEST of awards. And even then Harry was sure that he would try to find someway of getting out of it. If Snape was good at anything it was manipulating things. And he had gotten an O on his Defense against the Dark Arts Owl and Es on both Charms and Transfiguration. _Why did the Potions professor have to be Snape?_

His other OWLs were unimpressive. He had done incredibly badly on his Astronomy OWL (although he had somehow managed to just pass it), but that was because of Umbridge's attack on Hagrid which wasted at least 10 minutes of his exam time. It didn't change the OWL result, but it made him feel better and he figured he wasn't the only one to do worse because of that. Everyone was distracted. He had surprisingly managed to get an A on divination… How he didn't know but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was because of his visions of Voldemort or simply because he was the "Boy who lived" and not because of the test. In care of magical creatures he just missed an E getting a high A, he had basically failed history of magic having gotten a horrible D, although that was most likely do to his passing out partway into the exam, and in herbology he had gotten a respectable E, although he would have preferred an O.

_Well, I could go for Arthur Weasley's job. It might be interesting to see what things people enchant. Or maybe I could become an Unmentionable?_ A memory of Sirius appeared in his head, the department of mysteries was nothing more then a grave to him, making him shake off that idea just as quickly as he got it.

Harry's summer had been horrible, even despite his almost daily contact with the Order and Moody's threat over the Dursleys' heads. He kept having random dreams of Voldemort doing things which he had learned from experience that he could not trust. They kept changing everyday and were becoming more of a nuisance then anything. The Dursleys handled this situation the same way they handled anything related to Harry that they could not control. They ignored him interacting with him only in the manners required to keep a 16 year growing boy alive. Although Harry wasn't even sure he was growing anymore. Dudley was now bigger then ever, and everything seemed roughly the same to him as it had last year.

The problem with this strategy of non interaction is just that, no interaction. Harry found himself missing being chided by his aunt and uncle and teased by Dudley. At least that was something. Now he felt lonelier then ever and the daily letters were making it worse. Everyone was off doing things except him. Hermione was finally spending a summer at home. Something her parents seemed happy about and she kept writing him about how nice it has been to finally see them again and how proud of her they are and other such muggle mundanities. She had gotten perfect Os on all of her OWLs except astronomy, where her practical examination was a high E, but her overall average was still an O. He remembered an entire letter complaining about that, he had laughed through the entire letter. Especially at the P.S. at the bottom saying: 'And you better not be laughing at this Harry Potter! Those exams were important!"

Ron's letters, on the other hand were always about Ginny's newest prospective boyfriend or the fact that he had gotten better at quidditch and could now block Charlie's shots while avoiding bludgers hit by Fred and George. As expected Ron had conveniently omitted any reference to his OWLs. Harry was sure this was because of either embarrassment, or simply because without Hermione neither Ron nor himself had much care about them anyway with the exception of what NEWTs they would be taking next year. Of Ron's letters Harry was often more amused by his tirades about Ginny then anything else. Those letters kept getting more and more ridiculous as he over heard Ginny talk about at least four different boys at school in a few days. Harry had a hunch that Ginny was doing this on purpose. She seemed to take a bit more after Fred and George and anyone with eyes could see Ron's responses to any of his sister's prospects. Besides Harry himself of course but that had never been real, or even false for that matter.

Harry hadn't been able to play Quidditch last year and he wasn't sure he would ever be able to play again. So the only excitement he got out of those letters was Ron's, good to be sure but short lived. Besides he knew Ron was a good Keeper having practiced with him on multiple occasions, he just needed to stop worrying about what everyone else thought of him and play for the reason he signed up in the first place, because it is fun.

He had more so been sending letters to the Order then getting them back. At first his letters were fairly long and involved. But the weeks rolled by and he had less and less to say. Eventually he simply started writing the same thing over and over again:

_I'm not dead. They aren't treating me horribly. Hope to see you soon._

_-Harry_

The only reason he even bothered to do this is because he knew that if he didn't that Moody would show up and there was no telling what he would do or who he would bring. He was sure that they would catch on to his misery at some point this summer but until then all he could do was wait.

And so there he was, alone in his room in number 4 privet drive, wallowing in his own self pity and boredom trying to decide whether his growing hunger was worth the effort it would require to get food when he heard the front doorbell ring. The Dursleys were not in having left early this morning for some such event that Harry had not been told about. And so he jumped up tripped over his own blankets and landed smack on his glasses on his bedside table, hearing a small _crack_. Harry swore as he picked up his now broken frames and tried to get them on his face in such a way that they would stay on by themselves unfortunately the earpieces were quite ruined and he had to resort to holding the lenses in front of his eyes like a aristocrat with a monocle as he ran down the steps hearing the doorbell ring for the 20th time.

"Ok! Ok I'm coming!" Harry yelled irritably, wishing he could use his wand to fix his useless glasses frame. He was just about to give the neighbor who must be coming over to borrow a cup of sugar or something a piece of his mind but when he opened the door and then opened his mouth to speak, no words came out. Instead he let out a surprised breath. Severus Snape was at his doorstep, and that was not it. Standing behind him was Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"What are you doing here!?" He spat out surprised and angrily.

"Why delivering your new houseguests of course." Snape said. "Oh what better birthday present to the boy who lived, son of James Potter, then delivering him his arch nemesis to live with him for a month!" He had a happy but very vindictive tone and looked almost like he was about to start skipping.

"Oh and Potter, before you four get all cozy I need a word with you in private." It was not a request, Snape's voice was returning to his normal less happy vindictive self. Harry wasn't surprised at this. If Severus Snape were to be described in one word, vindictive would be the one to use. It seemed to be the only emotion that he showed effortlessly.

"Ok, we can talk in my room. Hey ferret," Malfoy's glare intensified at that comment, "Crabbe, Goyle. If you really are staying here for the summer, which you must be because I have never seen Snape…"

"That's Professor Snape to you, unless you don't intend to come back to Hogwarts this year?" Snape's smile looked a bit too hopeful.

"Ok, PROFESSOR Snape this happy and other people's…MY misery seems to be the thing which causes that the most. Then go to the kitchen, get out what little food you find and don't touch anything else!"

"Snape…"

"Did I NOT just tell you to call me Professor?" Despite the angry tone in Snape's voice Harry could tell from his slight smirk that he was loving this.

"Ok then, PROFESSOR Snape. We can talk in my room." With that Harry let them all pass, slammed the door shut and stomped up to his room. He did not need this right now; certainly not on his birthday, but it was happening none the less and so he was going to have to live with it.

When they got into Harry's room and shut the door Snape started before Harry could even ask why they were there. "Draco, Vincent and Gregory have been sent here by Dumbledore to be protected from the Dark Lord and their parents by the vary protection that protects you. It is Dumbledore's hope that he will not be able to penetrate here for the same reason he hasn't been able to in the past.

"I on the other hand volunteered to drop them off because I needed to speak with you anyway. It has come to my attention that you are interested in becoming an Auror is that right Potter?"

"Yes sir" Harry wasn't sure where this was going but his chances of becoming an Auror seemed less hopeless then it had minutes ago before Snape had shown up.

"Well then you will need to take my NEWTs class then. But as you are probably quite aware I only take Outstanding OWLs in my class, which you are not. However given the situation at the end of the year and the fact that I wouldn't be a very good Death Eater if I passed up the chance to be near the Boy Who Lived and of course my, like everyone else, hatred for Umbridge who has gotten even me and Minerva to agree to bend the rules for even YOU." Harry wasn't certain where this was going so he remained silent. A small glimmer of hope rested in his otherwise desperate mind. "So with all of this in mind I have devised a test of my own to see if you are ready. I heard from your testing instructor that you got the Polyjuice potion surprisingly accurate given the state of the rest of your answers. I have a few guesses as to HOW you managed that one however they are irrelevant now. What is relevant though is my test. I want you to make me a Polyjuice potion by next term. You must gather the ingredients yourself. I would make you get the recipe too. But I know you would just run to Ms. Granger anyway and so the point would be lost. Given this, here are the potion's instructions." He handed Harry a piece of parchment with a few things scribbled on it. "You may check it with Ms. Granger if you wish but I assure you that everything is there. I look forward to your unsuccessful attempt at this Potter, and good day to you."

Harry squinted his eyes at Snape. There had to be a catch, Severus Snape would not just come in here and hand Harry this easy a ticket back into his class and his dream job without a catch. And he certainly wouldn't seriously be telling Harry to have a good day.

Harry followed Snape to the front door and as he stepped outside Snape turned to Harry, smiled evilly and said "Your aunt and uncle will be getting a letter shortly stating those three's situation. In the mean time they are your responsibility and _I_ will hold you personally responsible if anything happens to them." And with that he looked around to see if anyone was looking and then when he saw it was clear disapparated without another word leaving Harry himself to sort out what was bound to be a horrible mess. _Blast! I should have asked him to fix my glasses while he was here! Oh well, just another thing that I will have to deal with now. Bleh, he WOULD leave me in charge of this. Dumbledore certainly wouldn't._

Before heading to the Kitchen he got some tape and jury-rigged glasses so that they would at least stay on his face of their own accord, the lenses were surprisingly unscathed. After that he turned his thoughts to his more immediate problem.

Draco Malfoy was sitting at the kitchen table looking rather annoyed in what Harry now noticed to be a quite well picked set of muggle clothing consisting of a nice flannel shirt and jeans. Crabbe and Goyle were wearing t-shirts instead of flannel and of course bigger jeans, but they also looked so normal that anyone looking in here wouldn't be the wiser. Harry got his first real look at them since they got here, his previous attention mostly on Snape. All three of them had grown a lot more then he had over the last year and the first month of summer. He hadn't really noticed much at school as he was always in a group or had something else on his mind. But now with them alone in his house he really saw them for the first time in a while.

Malfoy had finally grown noticeably taller then Harry, the top of Harry's head was at about his eye level. Goyle on the other hand towered over Harry, in what would be a rather intimidating fashion were these three at all able to intimidate him. He was so much taller than Harry that were he to stare straight forward Harry would be staring somewhere between his torso and abdomen. The top of his head almost reached his chin. Crabbe was only slightly shorter and slightly stockier than Goyle, although they were both quite big. Harry's head came to about Crabbe's mouth, making him look like a little kid to anyone who might be watching, especially with his smooth hairless face.

"Well, I have many guesses as to why you are here but frankly I don't care." Harry started irritably. "I am going to have to somehow convince my uncle and aunt to take you three in for however long Dumbledore wants you to be here and that is going to be enough work already."

"Living with filthy muggles…" Draco started.

Harry cut him off, "For once I agree with you, the Dursleys' ARE filthy muggles. But it wouldn't be a good idea for you to mention that you have ANYTHING to do with the wizarding world at all or they will never let you stay here."

"Hmm…" For the first time in Harry's life Crabbe seemed to be thinking to him.

"Come off it! We don't NEED to stay here scar head, we are quite capable of taking care of ourselves!" Malfoy seemed to be unshaken by his current situation. He seemed more angry and annoyed than anything else.

Harry smirked. "I'd like to see you live on your own for a month on the run from death eaters while not using magic. You're still under age and I bet the ministry of magic would find out where you were right quick if you cast any worthy spell. And of course after that the Death Eaters would know very soon after that as I find it hard to believe that they do not have a spy there at the moment."

Malfoy grumbled but apparently couldn't think of a rebuttal for that so he just sat there.

"Harry, what is going to happen to us?" Goyle asked, he looked completely different to Harry then he usually did. Whereas normally he looked incredibly intimidating right now he looked a tad frightened. Not terrified by any means but the kind of frightened you get when everything around you changes and there isn't really anything you can do about it. Crabbe looked similarly non-threatening but he looked more complacent that scared.

"I honestly wish I knew. I have no idea how in the world I am going to convince my aunt and uncle to let you stay here especially after Dumbledore's letter arrives. That will just confirm what they will suspect all along, that you are part of the world they most despise." Harry was calming down, becoming more rational. _How am I going to do this? And how am I going to get this done AND make a polyjuice potion?_

Then it hit him…the perfect excuse, Hermione. Her parents are muggles and so there wouldn't be a problem there. She of everyone he knew would know what to do and she could help him with the polyjuice potion. His uncle wouldn't suspect a thing (in fact he might be happy that Harry was hanging out with such a "normal" person for a change) and to top it all off he would be able to tease Malfoy about how he was saved by a "mudblood" for months. It was the perfect plan.

Malfoy was still sitting at the table as irritable as ever and Crabbe and Goyle were looking more and more lost as the dire prospects of their situation continued to sink into their otherwise dull skulls.

"I'll be right back, please don't break anything and if you hear anyone coming up to the door hurry to my room. It is the first door at the top of the stairs. Then just pray that my uncle decides to continue ignoring me and doesn't come in. I'll find you in a bit." And with that Harry walked off, glad that he was going to be able to plan more with Hermione who he was beginning to like a lot more than Ron lately.

Ring, ring, ring, _Come on Hermione answer the phone!_ Harry's thoughts were almost screaming in his head.

It rung a few more times and he was about to hang up when he heard the click of someone answering.

"Hello?" Came a woman's voice. Harry didn't recognize it but he assumed that it was Hermione's mother.

"Hello," Harry responded, "Is Hermione in?"

"May I ask whose calling?" _Duh, she hasn't really met me definitely not enough to know my phone voice._

"This is Harry Potter, you know, Hermione's friend from school?"

"OH!" Harry could imagine recognition coming to her face. Hermione had to have told her parents many things about him even if they couldn't remember his face. "The person she keeps sending those owls too. Why she doesn't just use the normal post I will never understand," Hermione's mother sounded like she was muttering to herself more so than talking to him, then he heard a slightly muffled yell. "Hermione! It's for you! It's Harry?"

Harry heard footsteps rapidly approaching. "Harry?" Hermione's voice was music to his ears, _Finally something goes my way._

"Yeah, it's me."

"I'm glad you called but…won't you get in trouble for calling here?" Hermione sounded excited but confused and worried at the same time. In another circumstances Harry might have been irked that the first thing she asked him was whether he was breaking a rule or not but today she was his only way out and that was much more important than that little annoying habit of hers.

"Well, for one, my Aunt and Uncle aren't here so they wouldn't know anyway. And even if they knew about the call, as long as they don't think you're part of the wizarding world or 'those people' as they like to call us. They would bother me about it but probably wouldn't do anything else especially with Moody's threat over their heads. The lot of them have been avoiding me all summer except for food and the like."

"Okay so what cha up to?" Hermione sounded giddy, like she expected gossip or something… She sounded totally unlike the Hermione he knew at school… _Then again it is just us and we're not exactly in a serious situation…yet. He would be happy to talk to her if she had called him._

Harry hated to break the good news with an actual reason for this uncalled for call. But there were more important things to be said.

"Actually there is a reason I called you…"

"Is it about the polyjuice potion you have to make for Snape?"

Harry was stunned…how did she know about that? "How do you know about that?" Harry asked forgetting about Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle for the moment.

"I was walking down to breakfast at the Order's headquarters while hanging out with Ron one weekend when I heard Dumbledore and Snape talking about it."

"Oh…" Harry wasn't sure whether to be pleased that Hermione already knew or annoyed because she had been to yet another gathering of the Order without him. _Of course with Voldemort able to enter my mind, even if it does cause him pain it would not be a good idea for me to be anywhere near the Order._

"I have fluxweed picked at the full moon and have been stewing lacewings for 5 days now. We should be able to get the rest of the ingredients at Diagon Alley when we go to get our books."

"Um…shouldn't I do SOME of the work here Hermione? After all it IS my test. And frankly Snape wouldn't take a potion he thought was to perfect. He'd assume you made it."

"Oh Harry, don't be silly!" Hermione spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Of COURSE you are going to be making the potion. I have just taken the liberty of procuring the more difficult parts of the potion. Specifically the ones that require time because I am sure you won't be able to where you are. Besides, you would need a place to brew the potion anyway."

"Hey scar head what's taking so long?" Malfoy's voice brought him back to reality and then he remembered the other half the reason he had called.

"…Harry…Please tell me that wasn't MALFOY!" Hermione sounded slightly surprised, but not as much as he thought she should be.

"Yes actually it was. Apparently Dumbledore sent him here along with Crabbe and Goyle to protect them from the Death Eater's or something. Snape dropped them off when he told me about the potion. Actually that's the other half of the reason I called. I was wondering if you could help me figure out a place for them to stay because I know that my uncle would never let them stay here in a million years."

"Who is that you're talking to?" Malfoy asked. "It wouldn't be that mudblood Granger would it?"

Without his constant anger of the previous years Harry found himself not caring at all. There would be little point in escalating the situation by trying to fight with him and even if he wasn't scared of Crabbe and Goyle, the fact that they were still a lot bigger than he was did not escape him. Besides it had happened so many times by now that it was more common then him referring to her by name. "Yes actually it is. And unless you want to be left out in the cold I suggest that you leave me alone so I can figure out a place for you to stay!"

Malfoy looked like he wanted to say something but thought better of it and left. _Well, that's something Malfoy has never been, stupid. He knows that he's stuck with me just as much as I'm stuck with him._ It wasn't that Harry really cared about this fact. He was far beyond caring. His ability to truly care had been lost over the two months he was at the Dursleys'. Alone in his room not caring had been the only way he survived. Anger had been this crutch last year but that had got him nothing but alienation. It has even been the cause of his godfather's death. _No! Can't think about that right now have to keep from thinking about that right…_

"Harry are you still there?" Hermione's voice snapped him out of his reverie.

"Yeah, sorry about that…" Harry's voice came out a lot more casual then he has intended. _Well maybe that's a good thing. This is Hermione after all. She has only been my friend for five years. Why shouldn't I be casual with her?_

"…she might be able to take them." Harry had been lost in thought and had missed all but the last of what Hermione had just said.

"Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"What, oh ok. I said that I thought Ms. Figg lived around there. You said something about her being a squib or something last year? She might be willing to take them. And if she's anything like you have described her then it might be something he needs."

Harry laughed for the first time in months. "Thanks Hermione!" Harry was glad he called her. It appeared that he could get rid of Malfoy completely and his Uncle would never have to know he was even there. All he'd have to do is intercept the Owl before it got to him.

He turned to Malfoy. "Ok, ferret it looks like we've found a place for you to stay. That is, gratefully not here. Nearby there is a squib named Arabella Figg. She would know enough about you to not be totally out of place and she knows Dumbledore. I don't know if Dumbledore intended for you to stay here or not but especially with a letter from him. I doubt you would ever be able to. Uncle Vernon would throw the lot of you out in a heart beat. And I really wouldn't blame him."

"So that's how it is Potter. We get dropped on your muggle uncle's doorstep and you hand us off to the neighborhood squib?" Malfoy was truly angry. Harry scoffed at that silently. How could Malfoy be mad about this? Well, he could understand the boy being mad at having to live with him all summer. But not having to live with Harry and being sent to live with someone who is, or at least was part of the Wizarding world has to be better then getting killed or worse by a death eater. The thought that the ministry had lost control of the dementors didn't elude him. And he was sure that they would be incredibly happy to feed one someone who got so much glee out of other's misery. Before they got to him he would look so tasty seeing all that horrible sadness. Harry was getting ahead of himself. He couldn't honestly say that he knew how Malfoy would react to seeing all of that. And he wasn't exactly the best judge of his character being that they have been enemies…or maybe rivals was a better word for it since their first year.

"Well suit yourself but it looks like you don't have much choice unless you want to be caught by death eaters."

"Um…Harry?" Hermione's tone caught his attention again. "I'm not doing anything this weekend we could meet and discuss the situation in person?"

"Are you sure I mean we would be meeting about Malfoy. And it is highly likely that he will be present at the time." Malfoy's face didn't change in the slightest when his name was mentioned. Apparently he understood to well the way they all felt about each other.

"I guess but where am I going to keep these three in the mean time? Saturday's three days away?"

"In your room I guess. Oh and make sure to feed them. Pets, even mean ones like ferrets still need their nutrients." Harry laughed. Hermione had changed so much over the years. At first she had been a snooty goody two shoes know it all and now she seems to break the rules almost more than he does. Or maybe he just thinks that because she's the one who actually comes up with all their rule breaking plans regardless of whether she agrees with them. Her sense of humor had been growing too. She would have never made a sarcastic remark like that in her first year. But last year she had made many. None in the mothering tone she had just used. But there is always a first time for everything. Malfoy's look deepened his anger more obvious. Harry knew he wasn't stupid, they were obviously laughing at his expense.

"I don't think that will work quite that well. Oh well I guess I'll have to think of something."

"Sorry I can't be more helpful. If I knew your aunt and uncle a bit better maybe I would have a better idea but I don't know what would work. Well…actually why not meet them? I have heard so many things about them and I would like to see for myself just how true they are. It doesn't even need to be a friendly visit. I could just show up and act really mean to you. Tell them you cursed me or something and see what happens."

"Don't do that I'd never hear the end of it for weeks. But you could show up randomly and probably get along under the pretense of being a saleswoman or something. They like normal muggle things like that people working hard to make a living."

"Oh well, I guess I'll call you later and we can make a plan."

Harry's heart jumped a step _She can't call here Uncle would kill me._ "Hermione, please don't, I'll call you. I already have enough trouble without a random person calling for me. They know I don't know anyone from the muggle world. And especially after that Ron incident three years ago, they would assume the worst."

Hermione laughed, no doubt she had been told all about it. "That was one of the funniest things he had ever told me. And the best part was he couldn't see at all what was humorous about it! I suppose he wouldn't being that it was the first time he had ever seen a telephone let alone used one, but it was still quite amusing." Hermione's laugh died down to a snicker allowing her to talk more like herself. "I wanted to call you after that. But I assumed the same thing you just told me and decided it wasn't a good idea. The last thing you needed at the time was someone adding wood to an already heated fire."

"Yeah."

"Harry, we're about to sit down to lunch so I'll expect a call from you before the weekend ok?"

"Ok." Harry almost instantly returned to his more recent normality of annoyed indifference after he heard the click of Hermione hanging up. Then he saw Malfoy and his state of a few minutes before, extreme annoyance and indifferent acceptance towards an uncontrollable situation.

"Ok me and Hermione are going to meet…"

Draco cut Harry off, "We're not going to accept help from a MUDBLOOD! That is simply NOT acceptable! We would rather be caught by the death eaters than do that!"

Crabbe and Goyle had just walked in and from the looks on their faces they had heard what Draco had just said. Whatever boundaries they had with him had obviously just been crossed.

"What the!" Goyle yelled shocked. "And you call US stupid!" Goyle's voice still sounded like it came from a classic idiot. But his words held more meaning to Harry then anything he had ever heard him say. Goyle may not be the smartest brain in the bunch but he wasn't nearly as brain dead as Harry had previously thought, and he wasn't a mindless a follower either.

"Yeah! What do you mean! You're CRAZY to think WE want to get caught! 'Specially over a stupid mudblood!" Crabbe's voice also still sounded rather idiotic to Harry, however they were questioning Malfoy something he had never seen them do in his entire time at Hogwarts.

Draco turned and looked at them sternly. They both backed up, and Harry saw something that he had not expected. He had always thought that Crabbe and Goyle were friends of Malfoy's or at least as close to friends as one could be with him. But what he saw shed new light on their relationship, they were scared of him.

Harry decided that now was the time to make the decision that had to be made. And it really wasn't his to make. It was the three people in his house.

"Ok, well if that's how you feel ferret, then you can go." Harry said rather calmly given the circumstances. He then walked to the front door opened it and then motioned with his hand to leave as a bellhop might motion someone into their room at a hotel.

Malfoy headed to the door and then looked back. Crabbe and Goyle had not moved. "Are you coming?" Malfoy's voice was quite stern, like a major talking to his new recruits. But Crabbe and Goyle didn't move. Apparently they feared the death eaters a lot more then they feared Draco.

"It looks like your going alone." Harry said smugly. Draco looked at him with pure malice in his eyes, and then looked at Crabbe and Goyle in a similar manner.

"FINE!" He yelled angrily. "We'll stay here and accept help from the mudblood and the halfbreed! But let no one claim that I disgraced wizards here!"

Harry noticed that any smugness in Draco's voice was gone. No longer did he have that 'I'm so much better than you' tone. He was just flat out angry. His body language spoke wonders though. He still was just as stuck up as ever, nose up and refusing to look down at him. _This is going to be a long month._ Harry thought as he showed the three of them up to his room, glad that the Dursleys hadn't showed up during this already hectic event.


	3. Plans, Potions and True Intentions

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 3: Plans, Potions and True Intentions

It was the weekend after Harry had first talked to Hermione and he, Crabbe, Goyle, and a very indignant Malfoy were headed to Ms. Figg's house. Harry was thinking how thankful he was that no letter from Dumbledore had in fact come, not even noticing the oddity of a three day delay in the Owl post. He didn't want to have to explain anything to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon after they already knew it was related to what they called his 'unnaturalness.'

This morning had been hard enough for them to even get out of the house, Harry having to distract his aunt and uncle during breakfast while Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had to sneak out. Malfoy's increasingly angry state of mind and the tense air around the group was just adding to the general uneasiness of the day.

It had been Hermione's idea for them to meet there instead of at his uncle's house. Harry had managed to sneak a phone call in when his aunt and uncle had taken Dudley out to lunch, one of the many 'special treats' that they seemed to give him for no reason. Dudley was still on his diet (and so then, of course, was Harry) so they had compromised with an all you can eat salad bar much to both Dudley and Vernon's dismay.

The diet had been a problem for Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle as well. Harry had not been able to get enough food to his room where they were stashed to keep them happy. Of course he was used to going without but they apparently were not and Malfoy's constant complaining about it had not helped matters. At least he had done it quietly, as to not call attention to himself. Although Harry figured it wasn't because he didn't want to get Harry in trouble, it was probably because of the tirade Vernon had upon finding Pig buzzing around the living room delivering yet another letter from Ron. It was all Harry could do to stop Vernon from killing him. He didn't even have time to send a return letter before he had to throw Pig out the front door. After finally getting rid of the annoying hyperactive owl he had to listen to his uncle yelling at him about his friends contacting here apparently forgetting Moody's threat for the moment. Harry hadn't cared he was so used to this that he was able to tune most of it out by now.

Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle on the other hand seemed to get what Harry meant about his Uncle and the wizarding world. Crabbe and Goyle had stopped complaining about the lack of food altogether evidently thankful that they had a place to stay at all.

Harry hadn't been surprised that the Dursleys' hadn't ventured into his room while his three guests were there. They had barely ventured there before, only when they wanted to yell at him. Being that they were scared to death of Moody, not to mention the rest of the wizarding world to which Harry had become a major part of. Because of that they had stepped into this room maybe twice over the course of the summer and that was usually to yell at him to get his owl Hedwig to shut up. Hedwig was off delivering the return message to Ron, and so conveniently she had not been there most of the time to get them caught.

In any case the phone call to Hermione had gone quite smoothly and they had agreed to meet at Ms. Figg's house that following Saturday. Hermione's parents had even agreed to drop her off without much fuss. Although Harry could tell that it was reluctantly. He had no idea where Hermione lived, and so he had no idea how far out of their way they were going having only had real contact with her at Hogwarts or through the order.

Ms. Figg's house was just another typical muggle house. With the same simple two floor design as the Dursleys' house. The main difference was that most of the furniture was scratched up and the house was filled with cats.

No one looking here would think anything of any wizarding world. They might think the owner a bit odd, but that would be quite understandable. Harry had always thought Ms. Figg was odd, even when compared to most wizards he knew. What with her blatant obsession with Cats and all.

Hermione and Ms. Figg were drinking tea in a kitchen that Harry vaguely recognized from his unhappy childhood. It wasn't particularly different from his kitchen unless you counted the fact that most of her shelves had different kinds of cat food and that her countertop was laden with random cat dishes. They seemed to be having a quite happy conversation about something, Harry guessed cats, since that was Ms. Figg's obsession and Hermione did still have Crookshanks.

Malfoy seemed even more appalled and unhappy about his situation than previous now that he actually saw Ms. Figg's house and Harry could see why one would be. He certainly wouldn't want to live here for any amount of time if he could avoid it. He would rather live here than with the Dursleys', but that's wasn't really saying much as he would rather live just about anywhere then with them.

Crabbe and Goyle on the other hand, still seemed rather relieved just to be alive, and Goyle in particular seemed even to smile a bit.

"Hello, why don't you come and have tea with us?" Ms. Figg said as soon as she noticed the four of them. "I wouldn't want you boys to feel left out."

Harry walked up to the table and after a slight hesitation Crabbe and Goyle also followed. Malfoy, the ever present stick in the mud refused to move and seemed even more appalled at his lackeys than when they stood up to him those three days ago.

Hermione, as Harry expected was the first start talking as she explained their situation to Ms. Figg. Who seemed to listen intently to her. Harry had not remembered her ever listening to him with any intent at all. Then again he had been younger than ten then and probably wouldn't have had much to say to her of relevance anyway.

After she was done Ms. Figg looked at the four boys with the same look she had given Mundungus Fletcher a year ago when Harry had first found out she was more than the crazy old cat lady he had always seen. _This isn't a good sign._ Harry thought tentatively.

"Harry Potter!" Harry flinched as he was reminded of Ms. Weasley. "I am appalled at you! Foolish boy! You very well know why I cannot take care of these three. It is the same reason why you cannot stay here for the summer instead of at those horrible Dursleys'!" Ms. Figg looked at him very much like Hermione did when she was angry at his sillyness. Hermione seemed shocked at this out burst and was sitting there staring at Ms. Figg like she had just leveled a grenade launcher filled with water balloons at her. Crabbe had hidden behind Goyle who had tried quite in effectively to hide behind Harry.

Ms. Figg then seemed to calm instantly as she said. "But of course you can make your potion here. I wouldn't want to stand in the way of your great career as an auror. Not after watching you grow up so quickly." in a very mothering tone. If he hadn't just seen it happen he never would have believed that Hermione could have a more shocked expression than at her previous outburst but sure enough she did. He felt Goyle's hand fall on his shoulder stiff as a board and he figured that she wasn't the only one. He of course had been with her many a time and had seen Mrs. Weasley do a similar turn around many a time and so was only mildly surprised.

Hermione was the first to snap back to reality and she quickly said. "While that is good it still does not solve the obvious problem of convincing the Dursleys to let the three of them stay." Hermione was back to her old intelligent self instantly.

"Hmm…" Ms. Figg contemplated. "Well I suppose they COULD stay here it wouldn't help protect them any, nor me for that matter, squibs are useless for protecting anything from full blown wizards and certainly dark lords. Everyone knows that! Whereas if they were to stay with Harry it is unlikely that You Know Who could get anywhere near them. At least that's what Dumbledore says anyway. And if we can't trust him then who CAN be trusted for questions like this?"

Harry was getting impatient. That was the obvious thing now that he thought about it. Otherwise why would Dumbledore send them to him in the first place? The problem was that stating the obvious, that as long as they are with Harry and he is protected from Voldemort that they would be protected to, gets them no closer to finding an actual place for the three to stay. Hermione's house was obviously not an option as nothing protected it from Voldemort's wrath and they were probably prime targets enough with her connection to him without sending people they are actively looking for there. And even though he knew his uncle would never allow it he could think of no other option other than throwing them out on the street. Which even if he could live with doing that he didn't think Dumbledore would be pleased at all, or anyone else for that matter.

Hermione thought for a while taking notes and eventually said, "Well I can't think of any place for them to go besides the Dursleys'. So we should probably try and figure out a way to get Harry's uncle to allow them to stay there rather than sitting here arguing over who would be in more danger where." Hermione was deep in Hermione mode as she thought about the situation. Harry would have thought it was funny if the situation wasn't so grim. For some reason her hyper controlling planning mode had often amused him and Ron, although that could be because it was usually in a situation where he had to find something to amuse him when ever she got into that mode. It was rarely a happy time.

"Can you think of something?" Crabbe's voice sounded as he stepped out from behind Goyle. He obviously trusted Hermione's brain even if he didn't trust her blood.

"Of course…she's Granger." Goyle's voice seemed a bit less tense with Hermione on the job. Everyone knew that short of a Ravenclaw, Hermione Granger was your best bet if you needed a clever idea to get you out of a jam even those people who hated her. Goodness knows she had gotten Harry herself and Ron out of plenty.

Harry was just as relieved at this as Crabbe and Goyle were as he had no idea how he was going to pull this one off. Pulling one over Filch or most of the professors at school was one thing. Pulling one over on the Dursleys' was another and he to his knowledge had yet to ever really do anything tricky on purpose that had got him anything from them other than being locked in the cupboard. _They may be horrible, but they're not stupid. Well, Vernon and Petunia aren't anyway._ He had very quickly stopped trying realizing that since they never trusted him anyway actively trying to trick them was nearly as pointless as trying to tell them the truth.

Malfoy seemed to be the only one who was not at least slightly relieved to be thinking about the current situation. He remained standing in the doorway to the Kitchen brooding the with the Malfoy signature scowl silently.

Then he spoke with a tone that said that he wanted this over with as quickly as possible. "Why don't we just use Obliviate or Imperius on them? It would be a lot easier than actually trying to get along with them."

Everyone in the room, even Crabbe and Goyle looked at him like he needed his head examined.

"IMPERIUS!" Hermione exclaimed. "Are you TRYING to get sent to Azkaban or are you just THAT stupid!"

"Well considering that the Dementors have gone over to You Know Who I doubt I have to worry about being sent there." Malfoy cocked a smile at this, obviously happy that he had caught Hermione on something.

"Well you should be glad of that, because I don't see why they didn't send you there ages ago." She shot back at him pointedly. At that Malfoy shut up again, returning to his former scowl.

Goyle went back in his 'attempting to think' pose again before he said. "Casting Imperius is a bad idea. But what about threatening them?" He looked to Hermione for confirmation. Harry expected Hermione to scoff at that idea, but to his surprise she just looked intrigued and pulled a pen and notepad out of her pocket and wrote something on it.

"You know that's not a bad idea. I wouldn't jump on it just yet, as there is probably a more diplomatic way of doing this, but yes I do think that threatening them might work if we can't think of anything better." Hermione seemed to be talking to herself just as much as the rest of them. But Goyle seemed quite happy that Hermione had even given his suggestion any thought at all. Harry knew that as dumb as they seemed Crabbe and Goyle had to be aware of everyone's feelings towards them by now and he assumed that getting Hermione Granger to acknowledge an idea of theirs would certainly make either of them happy especially if they themselves bought into the idea that they were stupid.

Harry's opinions on Crabbe and Goyle, Goyle in particular were beginning to change drastically. Unfortunately Malfoy, the one who he really had actually hoped would change to be a bit more bearable, had not. Something Harry knew was going to be a problem regardless of what they decided on here.

"Well, this is a conundrum if I have ever had one." Hermione said her face obviously deep in thought. Then her face changed to that expression that let Harry know that she had come up with something. "Brilliant! Just brilliant! Oh I am such a fool!" She said staring at Harry with that expression she uses when something is painfully obvious to her regardless of whether it is obvious to everyone else. Harry was just more confused at this.

"Do you remember _exactly_ what Snape said when he told you why Dumbledore sent them here?" Hermione was adamant so Harry rummaged through his memory for it.

"I think he said…'They were sent here to be protected by the very thing that has protected you in the past.' Or something to that effect."

"I thought as such. And what pray tell Harry has protected you in the past?" Hermione's voice was prompting him, he knew that. She was trying to get him to figure it out himself.

"Well, the connection to my family, my mother's death. But unless they were living under the same roof as me I don't see how those could…" Hermione cut him off.

"Of course you thought about that! That is what Snape _wanted_ you think. It was actually a brilliant move on his part, revenge for getting out of his general rule about NEWTs. Oh come on Harry you can't be this blunt!"

Then it hit him. It was as Hermione had said, totally obvious so obvious in fact that his brain had totally ignored it, "The people who have been watching me all summer! Of course that's what Dumbledore meant!" Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle looked completely lost as he said this. Hermione just gave smiled at him.

"God I want to hex that git! Making us waste all this time trying to get my uncle and aunt to let them live when all we really needed to do was get them to a place where my watchers can also watch them!"

"I was wondering when you were going to figure this out." At that Albus Dumbledore apparated into the room with a slight pop, his twinkling eyes beaming. Malfoy did not look pleased at this one bit. Crabbe and Goyle froze up as soon as he appeared.

"You planned this didn't you?" Harry asked smugly.

"I didn't plan it, although I must admit that it did intrigue me when Severus brought it up. It was actually quite the plan on his part. It very well could have served both of our purposes. However, you managed to completely dodge my original intentions and come up with everything on your own."

"So what were your intentions for this?" Harry asked.

"Why to get you to stand up to your uncle of course!" Dumbledore seemed quite giddy today for reasons unknown. "Unfortunately it didn't turn out as I planned. No matter, this is probably for the better anyway. I would hate to have to send your aunt another Howler." At that he looked toward Harry and winked. Harry smirked back remembering the anonymous Howler she had received the previous summer.

"Now for the reason I really came here. Arabella, would you mind taking in these three for the remainder of the summer? It would be a personal favor to me and it would save me a lot of effort trying to secure yet another location."

Ms. Figg nodded graciously at this smiling. "Of course," She responded.

Dumbledore then turned to Hermione, "Hermione, I know you want to spend more time with Harry this summer since you are at home with your parents. Because it is quite impossible for him to go stay with you for obvious reasons and to save your parents the hassle of muggle transportation I took the liberty of getting a special portkey authorized for you for the remainder of the summer. It is strictly for the purposes of visiting Mr. Potter, as I had to pull quite a few strings with the office of magical transportation to get it authorized at all." With that he handed her a small white badge.

"You activate it by tapping it quickly three times while thinking about where you want to go. This will only take you to either Ms. Figg's house or yours."

"Don't worry about waking me dear." Ms. Figg stated. "Albus has already cleared this with me and it will send you to a section of my living room which Albus has told me he has made sure will not disturb me with your arrivals."

With that Dumbledore continued, "It can be used to take multiple people simply by holding hands and forming a line. But that is only in case of extreme emergency as it has only been authorized for your use."

He then turned to Harry and said. "By the way how does it feel to be sixteen?" Harry realized that he had completely forgotten about his birthday with everything that had happened on it with Snape, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle showing up. He felt silly about this, no matter. It wasn't like they were ever important before. Hermione on the other hand looked horrified that she had forgotten. Harry turned to her and motioned to her that they would talk about it later.

After that he turned towards the rest of them smiled and said, "I certainly hope you re prepared for your NEWTs next year. Good day to you all!" he then disapparated with a small pop.

Crabbe and Goyle let out deep breaths they had been holding as Dumbledore left. Malfoy just continued sneering. Harry was certainly relieved, what could have been a very hellish nightmare for him had turned out to be a simple matter.

The rest of the day was spent getting Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle into their new accommodations. Hermione called her parent and told them that she was getting home on her own. Ms. Figg invited Harry and Hermione to eat dinner, where they spent the entire time talking about Harry's birthday while he tried to tell them that it was ok and that it had never really been that special before so why make a big deal of it now. Malfoy unsurprisingly scoffed and spent the entire meal brooding silently. Hermione walked Harry home where she had finally agreed to not make a big deal out of his party as long as he accepted that she would send him a gift. Harry also noted that the Weasleys had forgotten his birthday as well. But he thought that was probably because they were on important order business. In any case he was kinda relieved that they hadn't done anything. The last thing he needed was another lecture from his uncle about keeping the house clear of strange owls.

Harry was thinking in bed before he went to sleep and he realized that Dumbledore was right. He was going to have to really stand up to his aunt and uncle at some point. Not throw temper tantrums, threats and hissy fits like he had previous summers. But really stand up to them. He also realized that he would have had to do it without magic if for no other reason than to prove to himself he could do it. _It might even give them a little more respect for me._ He thought. _Show them that I can live without my 'unnaturalness.' Well…maybe not, but I can dream can't I?_


	4. Fred and George, The Wanderful Weasleys!

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 4: Fred and George, The Wand-erful Weasleys!

Despite his original intent to not spend the summer with the three unexpected guests, Harry found himself spending most of time at Ms. Figg's house anyway. Including the days Hermione didn't show up to hang out with him. Which were actually more common than not.

At first he had dreaded going back there, and did so only with Hermione to check on the potion. However on one day he had gotten there earlier than Hermione and had somehow ended up in a surprisingly enjoyable conversation with Crabbe about Quidditch. After that he spent more time there, mostly out of boredom and during that time he found that neither Crabbe nor Goyle were that bad when they weren't trying to keep up appearances or following Malfoy. It wasn't that he really became friends with them as much as they came to the silent understanding that it was pointless for them to be enemies. All three of them knew that were the situation different that they would hang out with others. But Harry was sure that they at least would hold no more animosity towards each other. He had even at some point became on a first name basis with them, and now in his head they had eternally become Vincent and Gregory rather than Crabbe and Goyle, names he now reserved for their Death Eater parents.

Malfoy on then other hand had not managed to get off his bad side over the summer. He remained the same git he always had been. No it wasn't that Malfoy was any different really, it was Harry who had changed. Somewhere along the line in his inevitable run-ins with Malfoy during his dealings with Vincent and Gregory his previous anger had turned to pity in a revelation at a time that Harry couldn't place if he had tried. He then realized that Malfoy wasn't putting on a front or even acting smug because he thought he was better than everyone else (or at least, not exactly). Harry realized that he acted like that because it was the only way he knew how to act. There was no underlying him that he tried to keep hidden from others. Oh he had secrets no doubt and things he didn't want known. But Harry had never seen anything from Malfoy that led him to believe that he had an inner self. The selfish aristocratic boy was exactly who and what he was, he didn't think he was better then others because there was no thought process there at all, he just KNEW that he was. And with a father like Lucius Malfoy, Harry wasn't surprised in the least. Harry realized that hating Malfoy for being who he is would be like him hating Hermione for being Smart or Ron for having red hair. And any anger he had left at that point had melted and turned into pity.

It had actually worked in both their advantages however. Without his former anger towards the boy, he no longer had any reason to respond to his pointless taunts. And after realizing that there was no one there to share them with (there was nothing really new about any of them and Vincent and Gregory were just flat out bored of hearing them, especially when Harry's only response to them was to ignore it and look the other way) he had simply completely stopped saying them altogether. It also didn't help him that Vincent and Gregory seemed to grow less and less scared of him as the summer rolled on and their parents became ever more a memory. Malfoy had eventually given in to his loneliness and grudgingly joined in on their conversations. Which even though he still disliked interacting with Harry in any way, he seemed a bit less unhappy at not being completely left out.

Even Hermione had noticed the changes in Harry's relationships with Malfoy Vincent and Gregory. At first she was resistant to Malfoy's former Lackeys when Harry talked with them. But eventually Vincent asked her for help on studying for one of his planned NEWT classes and that had broken the ice between them, leaving Malfoy even more annoyed at his lack of control of the entire situation. Malfoy still called her mudblood and refused to seriously consider her at all. But she could care less at this point, having experienced that for the last five years at school anyway. It was like this that the five of them had managed to coexist for most of the remaining summer days.

Hermione had kept her promise and not made a big deal about his party. However she had gotten him an extended coin purse to keep his money in saying that she thought he needed something practical rather then fun given the times. Harry had thanked her and then that was the last they spoke of his sweet sixteen.

All five students got their NEWTs sign up sheets within days of each other and Harry and Hermione had spent the next few days trying to decide what to take (Malfoy Vincent and Gregory had gone off to do the same). Ron had owled them telling them his five choices of Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Trasfiguration, Defense against the Dark Arts and to Harry's surprise Herbology. Ron hadn't gotten a high enough Potions Owl to get into Snape's NEWT potion's class and Snape hadn't given him a second option into it. But Ron's letter had said that he had not only gotten a really high E on his care of magical creatures Owl 'Can't forget much about things you are scared to death of.' He had written but after spending a few weeks with Charlie, who as far as Harry knew still worked with Dragons in Romania, he had gotten over his fear of most magical beasts (giant spiders excused of course) and had found that without that he rather liked many of them, he did admit that it had taken Charlie a bit of effort to get him to change his mind in some cases especially with Hagrid's choices and all. Herbology, Ron had said, was incredibly useful to know when working with animals, especially if one was not so great with potions.

Harry had noticed quite a few more specialized classes while he was looking through the NEWTs selection that had not been available at the OWL level, including Healing, Curse Breaking, Invocation, and the oddball Psionics (the magic of the mind, and something Harry hadn't ever heard of before). Harry had decided on Care of Magical Creatures, Defense against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology and of course Potions giving him a hefty workload of six NEWTs rather than his required five but were also for the most part classes he enjoyed. Hermione, as Harry expected had chosen to take almost every NEWT in the book: Her complete list was Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Transfiguration, History of Magic, Theory of Magic, Psionics, Potions, Defense against the Darks Arts, Ancient Runes, Healing, Herbology, and Arithmancy. Harry wasn't sure how she intended to take all those classes without a time turner. But Hermione was positive that she had worked out a schedule and knowing that she was not one to be deterred once she put her mind to something, Harry just let her obsessive studious nature be.

Before long it was time for them all to go to Diagon Alley for school supplies and the remaining ingredients for the polyjuice potion. Harry had gotten an owl from Dumbledore a few days previous telling him that Hermione, Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory were going to be sent there separately and that he was to meet a member of the Order today in his room who would accompany him directly to the Leaky Cauldron by means of a Portkey. He would rendezvous with Hermione, Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory there and then they would all go together to Gringotts where they were to meet Bill Weasley who would give Harry his key.

Harry had not been told who this member of the order was although he was expecting Lupin or Moody. Tonks was too conspicuous with her tendency to knock random things over and almost everyone else probably had assignments elsewhere.

What he had not expected was a Weasley twin apparating inches in front of him wearing pajamas and a Santa hat.

"George?" Harry exclaimed.

"Actually I'm Fred. But who's counting?" Fred said sarcastically.

"What are you doing here? I thought I was being meeting an order member?" Harry was thoroughly confused. Fred had appeared at the exact time Dumbledore had told them to meet. But he knew that Molly would never let the twin's join the order in a million years. She'd go directly to even Dumbledore and yell at him until he gave in. She was a very protective mother.

"Actually, I am." Fred said. "Although between you and me…it was hell trying to get in. Mum was against the whole thing of course…and wouldn't let anyone get a word in edgewise on our behalf. We were lucky that we had gone to the initiation meeting that we did…because it was all about…well…You."

Harry was about to say ask why Fred kept pausing but Fred continued and cut him off.

"He had intended on making the Order a bit more known at Hogwarts this year as it could be official and such. And he wanted an order member selected as your personal Bodyguard for whenever you were at Hogwarts or well…anywhere else for that matter. He looked directly at us when he said this…and so we took the quite obvious hint and volunteered. Mum tried to throw a hissy fit…but Dumbledore insisted that our only job would be to stay with you and protect you at all times. Of course she wasn't going to argue with 'Protecting Harry Potter' even though she was still adamant that this be our only job. He then went on to say that to would be easier this way anyway…since we TECHNICALLY didn't finish last year there would be a lot less paperwork to fill out to allow us to come to school to stay. In fact he insinuated that the only real paperwork would be holding us back a year so that we could stay in your dormitory. Of course mum tried to stop this as well, but you know Dumbledore. So now you won't have some old twit like Moody or Shacklebolt watching your every move and will be able to get into the same old mischief you're used too. And the best part is we'll actually be able to go along this time!"

Harry had to laugh at Fred's excitement and constant pausing which Harry realized was because he was without his twin, something that Harry thought felt weird. And although he was happy to have personal guards who would give him some leeway he wasn't exactly happy that he NEEDED a personal guard at all. He stopped as he also worried about one more very important thing.

"You know Fred this isn't a game or anything. I have a tendency to get into incredibly serious and dangerous situations. And I don't think I could live with myself if I led you to one of these and then you got hurt or worse especially if that was because you didn't treat it seriously enough."

Fred's face leveled into an expression of serious ferocity that Harry didn't know the Weasley twins even had as he said, "I know. And we take this job incredibly seriously. You are a brother to us and we will not let you be hurt anymore then we would allow someone to hurt Ginny, Ron, or even Hermione. It wasn't just about you. We assumed that we would also end up guarding them too." Harry noticed that Fred didn't pause during that speech. After that Fred's ferocity instantly dropped to his more normal smile. "But in the mean time why NOT have fun? After all, why not make everything fun I always say…or maybe I don't…oh well!"

Harry laughed again and that reminded him of the money he gave the twins two years ago and the joke shop they funded with it. "What about your shop? How do you intend to run that and guard me at the same time?"

"Blimey Harry!" Fred exclaimed. "We both don't have to always be near you at the same time! And besides Lee Jordon is much better at Arithmancy then we are anyway. And of course we immediately signed him on as a full fledged partner as soon as we could. Of course we told him about the Order and about our assignment to you. And he of course doesn't want to see you get hurt any more than we do. So he keeps up the shop…which is doing quite well by the way. And we keep up you, and everything works out in the end!"

Fred then, apparently tired of standing around talking and not even taunting someone, launched a mini Wildfire Whiz-Bang right into the room and they watched it until it burnt out a few minutes later. Harry was half afraid that he would get another letter from the Ministry for underage magic but it was too cool for that thought to stay for any amount of time.

"Oops, look at the time were late!" Fred said and then he quickly pulled out his wand, transfigured his pajamas into robes and then said. "And were off!" before quickly taking off his Santa hat and shoving it on Harry's head to activate the portkey taking them to the Leaky Cauldron.

When they finally stopped spinning Harry couldn't see a thing because Fred had shoved the hat down over his eyes. He heard a few laughs he somewhat recognized before Fred snatched the hat off his head put it back on again. Hermione, Vincent and Gregory were snickering in his direction and Malfoy was simply smirking triumphantly.

The portkey had taken them to be standing directly on the bar conveniently where there were not people to step on but also in view of pretty much everybody in the room. Fred flamboyantly curtsied before jumping off the bar. Harry just climbed off the bar, feeling his face get slightly warm with embarrassment.

"Well, you'll be okay in Diagon Alley and I really need to go check on something. Be sure to stop by Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes before you leave. You'll recognize it as the store with the large number of shoppers inside, and well, outside it. I've still got the portkey to take you home!" Fred pointed towards the Santa hat, "So you can't forget!" After that, he disapparated, with a dramatic billow of his robe and a large bang that resounded the room. Harry then realized that Fred had barely made any noise when he had apparated into his room and again wondered just how powerful the twins actually were. And what they could accomplish if they actually put their minds on something.

"So…to Gringotts then? Or should I sit on your lap and ask what list I'm on?" Harry was surprised that it was Hermione who had said that and not one of the other three. _Apparently her friendship with Ginny was rubbing off on her._ He thought as everyone, even Malfoy, laughed.

"Ok then lets go." Harry said as he led them all out to the wall out back and tapped the brick he knew opened the way to Diagon Alley. He would never forget that brick after being confined to the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley the last week before his third year and thus using it every day.

As soon as Harry looked through the newly opened gate he noticed a change in the demeanor of the once exciting place. He had not had a chance to go here since that week his third year and it appeared that while the shops remained the same the mood of the alley was a lot more gloomy then he had remembered. Wizards were traveling in groups, some with their wands out. And he could see quite a few Hogwarts students walking with muggle looking adults, their wands at the ready for the slightest sign of Danger.

This was the way things were for the entire walk to Gringotts. A few of the shop keepers and other people he recognized waved to him but for the most part people were to busy making sure it was safe to notice them.

In light of this it was incredibly obvious which shop was Fred and George's, simply because it was the only shop in the alley that had a group of excited people in front of it and also the only place where there was any sort of laughter.

Gringotts itself seemed to have stepped up its security and not only was there a second goblin at the door ushering people in. There were also a witch and a wizard standing guard by the entrance with their wands at the ready. Harry noticed that the two had no insignias of the ministry of magic and was glad of that. He remembered what the ministry had tried with him and he didn't want to see the wizards' bank having anything to do with them while Fudge was minister.

They had to wait in a line outside the building and then be checked one by one by both the security wizard and witch as well as the two goblins before they were allowed inside.

Once Harry had passed the security check he saw that the inside of the bank had barely changed. It was still the bustling place he had always seen. Bill Weasley was standing in the middle of the foyer talking with one of the taller Goblins.

Harry waited for the Hermione to pass the check. And once that was done they both walked up to Bill. Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory had been checked before the two of them and were waiting by the wall, looking uncomfortable.

"Hello Harry!" Bill looked pretty much the same as he always had. He was wearing a different earring that was in the shape of a unicorn and the length of his ponytail had slightly increased. But that wasn't even a very noticeable change. He looked to be wearing a rather official looking robes and he still had on his ever apparent dragon skin boots.

"I have your key right here." He produced a key form somewhere in his robes, handed it to Harry and then turned his attention to Hermione. "You have some Muggle money to get exchanged right Hermione?" Hermione nodded then produced some bills. "Ok then, I'll help you get that exchanged after I get these four settled." At that he motioned for Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory. Who reluctantly came to where Harry, Hermione and Bill were talking in the center of the foyer.

"Harry, here is a letter from Dumbledore about getting these three their required materials. You remember how this works right? After all you were here with Hagrid your first year?" He then winked at Harry in a very Weasley manner before handing him a letter with Dumbledore's signet. "Oh and sorry we didn't catch your birthday. We figured you would rather not have a bunch of hurried letters so we decided to wait and maybe hold a party for you at some other time. I for one would rather just get you a gift and skip the whole party thing, and I think you would probably agree?" Harry smiled and nodded. And with that Bill left with Hermione to get her money exchanged.

Assuming that the other three boys had in fact been here before and knew how this worked Harry walked up to one of the goblins behind the front desk and said. "Hello, I would like to make a withdrawal please."

"Name," The goblin said without looking at him.

"Harry Potter." Harry responded.

The goblin then looked at him sternly and said, "And I trust that you have your key Mr. Potter?"

"Yes." Harry said handing it to the goblin. "And there's one more thing." He said placing the letter that Bill had just handed to him from Dumbledore on the desk. "These three need some of the stuff from you know which vault for you know what." He then handed the goblin the letter.

He quickly looked it over and then said, "Very well, this way please," before leading the three of them to the cart and the vaults below.

Malfoy seemed shocked when he saw the amount of galleons piled in Harry's Vault. It appeared that Malfoy had not expected Harry to have quite as much as he did.

After gathering a fairly large number of galleons, sickles and knuts into his new extended Money pouch, the three of them were led down to vault 888 by the goblin. Harry recognized it as the same type of vault that the Philosopher's stone had been in and cautioned the others not to touch it as the goblin went over and opened it up.

Harry had not expected what was behind it. The entire thing was packed to the brim with neatly stacked coins that went form the floor of the vault to somewhere above the frame of the door. It looked like a wall of coins right behind the door. He would not want to be the person trying to steal that. The goblins would be cleaning a bloody stain off the coins rather than removing a corpse. The others looked just as shocked as Harry felt.

The Goblin then levitated three small piles of galleons, sickles and knuts before closing the vault and saying. "Ok here are the 45 galleons, 45 sickles and 45 knuts I am supposed to remove for you. It says here that fifteen of each coin is to go to each of you three." The goblin said as he again looked at Dumbledore's note.

"We're supposed to buy our entire year's supplies with 15 galleons 15 sickles and 15 knuts!?" Malfoy looked horrified at this idea. Harry knew it was possible. He had seen Ms. Weasley buy supplies for all her children on significantly less his second year. It was the first time he really understood exactly why Ron was so touchy about his parents lack of wealth.

The goblin did not respond to this and merely separating the three piles into nine smaller piles before taking out three small bags and putting a pile of galleons, sickles and knuts in each bag. He then handed one of the bags to each of Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory before heading back to the cart. Harry couldn't help but smile at Malfoy's shocked expression. It was down right hilarious that Malfoy thought of this as a pitiful some of money when he knew for a fact that Ron would kill to have that much money to spend on only himself.

The trip back up to the main foyer was just as bumpy as ever, and Harry was glad when eh saw Bill and Hermione waiting calmly in the middle of the big room.

"Hello," Bill said before turning to Malfoy Vincent and Gregory. "I have been asked by Dumbledore to take you three shopping as he assumes you have never had to spend thriftily before." Bill said smiling. Malfoy on the other hand was anything but happy. Not only did he have to get his supplies on what must have been pocket change to him before but to be taught how to shop by a Weasley? He could imagine the taunts if that got out at school. He'd have to remember that one if Malfoy became too much of a git again when they got back in school. Vincent and Gregory didn't seem as shocked. However neither one of them looked too pleased either.

Harry and Hermione left the bank together towards Flourish and Blotts while as Bill took Malfoy, Vincent, and Gregory towards Madam Malkin's, it was obvious they would need new robes. Harry hadn't grown noticeably at all and he wasn't sure if he would ever need new robes. Hermione had grown a lot and was now noticeably taller then him. But apparently she had somehow already gotten her new Hogwarts robes so Madam Malkin's was not a stop for either of them. Harry was fine with this because he didn't really feel like standing around to get measured again anyway.

After getting their books for their NEWTs and looking at quite a few others books that Hermione had either not seen before because they were new or newer printing of books she already had. They went to the apothecary and got the supplies they needed for school and the remaining supplies for the polyjuice potion, as Hermione had managed to get all the rarer ingredients from Dumbledore.

After stopping for lunch and then wandering the alley buying the rest of their supplies (paper, quill's and the like) and stopping at Quality Quidditch Supplies so Harry could stock up on polish for his broom cleaning set and get a set of retuning silver practice snitches (they were snitches enchanted to return to the owner when called so that they could be practiced with more efficiently. They were silver so that they couldn't be used in a normal game and thus couldn't be used to cheat) as well as a new pair of gloves.

They finally ended up dropping their bags off in a room Harry paid for at the Leaky Cauldron (he had the extra money and they were both tired of carrying the things around). After which they decided to head to Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes.

"Hello I was wondering whether you'd be here, Dumbledore had said that you were coming today." Harry could not be more pleased to hear Ron's voice. Now Ron was something else entirely and now Harry almost had to strain his neck to look in his face. Ron, already being tall for his age seemed to have hit a growth spurt over the summer and was now even taller then Gregory. Harry wondered where he had gotten this from as neither one of his parents were all that tall. In fact they were both built a little more like the twins. Not exactly short, but more average and slightly stocky. Bill and Percy (he shuddered as he thought of the one Weasley who he greatly disliked) were built more like Ron although neither were as tall. And Charlie was the average one lumped in the middle. Harry didn't know where Ginny fell because she was the only girl in the family and she didn't seem to have a build at all like her mothers.

"Sorry we're late. Mum made me and Ginny finish degnoming the garden before we could come. It had gotten dreadful in all the moving and stuff. We told her we might miss you but she wouldn't budge saying that we would still meet on the train and that it would just be more work later if we let it be." Despite this Ron was smiling obviously happy to see his two best friends.

"It's ok Ron." Harry said. "Well we're done with our Shopping having been out here all day long and we were heading off to Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes to see what the twins have been up to."

"It's bloody brilliant that it is." Ron said. "I have been there many times and just looked around. They really have invented a lot of stuff that is really cool. And there are of course the Wildfire Whiz-Bangs which have always been neat. Well, I have to go get new robes."

"Yeah I can see why. You have really grown since I last saw you." Hermione said as she looked up at Ron.

"Yeah, I hit two meters tall this August. It's a pain really, not only were the growing pains horrid but my old clothes stopped fitting me and I needed a completely new wardrobe within a few weeks of the summer."

Despite what Ron said Harry found himself jealous of him. Whereas Ron had grown immensely tall Harry had remained incredibly short. He wished he could have grown at least a bit over the summer. He quickly snapped himself out of that train of thought realizing how silly it was. Ron could no more control his growth than Harry. Harry realized that as much as he must be straining his neck to look up at Ron, Ron must also be straining to look down at him. He then laughed for seemingly no reason earning a confused look from both Ron and Hermione.

"What's so funny?" Ron asked.

"I was just thinking that now probably the tallest kid and the shortest kids in our year are now best friends!"

Hermione and Ron laughed at that too before Ron said. "Hey look at it this way, maybe people will stop staring at the 'Boy Who Lived' and now start staring at the immensely tall Weasley freak of nature standing next to him!"

At that the three of them laughed again and Harry wondered how he had ever lived without his two best friends.

"Well, I'm gonna go get measured and Madam Malkin's, see ya later." He said. Harry saw Arthur, Molly and Ginny standing a few feet away and he was glad that they had let him, Ron and Hermione have their little reunion undistracted.

They waved at him and he heard Molly say "Be careful dearies!"

He then heard Ginny's voice say. "See ya on the Hogwarts Express!"

Despite the grim mood of the Alley and the fact that everyone seemed to be on guard, Harry and Hermione had a giddy air between them after the meeting with the Weasleys and they could do nothing but talk about how much Ron had changed over the summer as they walked towards Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes.

"I still can't believe he got that tall over one summer!" Harry said, "I feel shorter than ever before now!" He said his giddiness leveling off slightly.

"Oh Harry don't think being short is bad. Look at it this way you haven't lost your seeker's edge." Harry wasn't so glum about being short anymore but the fact that Hermione had not only tried to cheer him up, but had tried to do it by mentioning quidditch (something she had never really been attracted to) made him immensely happier with himself.

"Oh what would you know about being a good seeker!" Harry teased.

"Well, you aren't the only one present when Ron goes on about it. Honestly I could probably name all the national teams and their players and I have only ever been to that one professional match!" Harry laughed knowing exactly what Hermione meant, Ron had always been borderline obsessed with quidditch as long as Harry had known him.

"Did you see the slight red fuzz on his chin? It's so obvious that he's started shaving! I personally think he should keep his face clean." Hermione was talking quickly and giddily.

"I agree." Harry said. "That way I won't be the only Gryffindor boy in our year who looks like a little kid."

Hermione looked at him about to console him again when she saw the sarcastic look on his face. "Well be glad you still look like you do. You'll probably look twenty your entire life. And that Harry Potter is nothing to be ashamed about." That made them both laugh again as they tuned the corner and saw the crown around Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. A Santa hat told Harry that Fred (he could only sometimes barely tell the difference between Fred and George unless he already knew who was who) was ushering people a few at a time as he hovered a few feet off the ground presumably on his broomstick.

They were about to stand in line when Fred noticed them and flew to them over the crowd. "Wow." Was all Harry could say when he noticed that Fred was riding a Firebolt.

"Where did you get that?" Hermione asked. Harry heard George take Fred's place ushering and sure enough he was not wearing the hat that Harry knew was also his returning portkey, confirming that they were in fact talking to Fred.

"Oh we made a lot more then we thought this summer and we both thought we would treat ourselves to a self serving delight. Firebolts seemed like the perfect thing. But honestly why are you waiting in line? You know we can't keep our best brother's best friends waiting!" And with that Fred scooted forward leaving room on the broom for Harry and Hermione who he then ferried across the crowd of people to the front gate.

Surprisingly no one seemed to care that they were getting preferential treatment from the twins. Of course Harry and Hermione recognized most of them as Hogwarts students and they wouldn't be surprised at this one bit. Harry waved to Justin Finch-Fletchley as he flew past who waved back and he heard Seamus Finnigan yell, "Hey Harry save some for us will ya!" from somewhere in the crowd.

"Well look around and see what you like. Harry here just needs to talk to us to get stuff. Hermione, sorry but we're going to have to charge you for anything you want. I hope you understand." Hermione looked at him evenly smiling. Harry had told her last year that he had been the one to finance the shop with his tri-wizard tournament winnings and it looked like she was not surprised in the least by this statement.

As Harry looked around he could see why the twins were doing so well. They had the Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, Wands, and all the treats and other things they had described last year at school as well as countless other new things that Harry had never seen before. The portable swamp now had more complex and varied versions including a portable beach (complete with salt water), portable rain forest (not recommended indoors), portable desert (beware of dehydration) and the incredibly odd portable rainbow plains which create a flat plain of almost normal grass that shines with rainbow colors. The food section had been increased considerably and there were now other things besides candies in including a precooked turkey that squirms to avoid blades and a bar that turns into a salad if you wave the right wand at it.

There was a bottomless mug where the bottom disappears and the drink falls out (a simple trick but he could imagine it being useful) and a discus that hovers on its own and will dodge all hands but the ones that release it.

The fake wands were back in full force and it seemed that they had new versions that turned into increasingly weirder things. Harry even thought he saw one that turned into a small ant eater but he couldn't really be sure.

Eventually Ron, Seamus, Dean, and Neville were let in. At this Fred and George left Lee and a boy and girl who Harry didn't recognize to run the shop while they gathered the new entries as well as Justin, Ernie Macmillan, and Padma Patil (where Parvati was Harry had no idea) and brought them to the back room of the shop one by one. It did not escape Harry's notice that all of these people were members of the DA from the previous year (with the semi exception of Seamus who had only actually been to one meeting).

The back room was much less grand than the main shop area. It had a simple work area on one side of the room with a filing cabinet and a desk and a small lab on the other side that didn't look that much more complicated than a muggle chemistry lab (although Harry was sure it had many more uses).

Fred and George gathered all the intrigued DA members together before starting to talk.

"We have brought all of you back here…" George started.

"Because we have created a few things…" Fred continued

"That we think might be very helpful…" George stated.

"For everyone involved in any conflict against a certain dark lord." And Fred finished.

At that everyone started murmuring nervously.

"We know as well as you do that it is likely…"

"Especially with Harry here…" At that Fred pointed pulled Harry next to him in with his arm and held him there.

"That Hogwarts will not be a very safe place this year."

"With that in mind we have created something that we like to call Wand-derful Weasleys' spread spell wands." At that both twins pulled a lot of small stubby wands with normal sized handles out of their robes and handed them to everybody.

"These wands are useable with almost any spell and they will spread a spells effect greatly. Whether it be cursing the entire Slytherin table in one go or stunning a group of attacking death eaters these are the way to go." They both finished together dramatically.

Then they split up and started showing everyone individually how they work. Fred showed Harry first. "Well they don't work on their own you have to use them with your regular wand. When you cast the spell you want to spread hold the spread spell wand next to your regular wand at the handle like this." Fred arranged Harry's hands around his wand and the spread spell wand. "Say 'Omnus' before you cast the spell and then wave it across the area you want to effect." At that he pointed his own wand at some quills in a cup on the table and said, "Omnus Accio Quill!" the quills all flew out of the cup to his hands. "And that's that."

"The spell itself will be a lot weaker as the effect is spread and to our knowledge and testing that is the only problem. I personally still wouldn't recommend using them except in the worst of circumstances though as it took a lot of testing to get them to stop exploding in our faces." Despite what Fred said Harry realized just how useful this little thing could be. He wasn't about to be stupid and use it with reckless abandon but he was sure that this would come in handy at some point.

After describing how it works to all the people there and providing each of them who wanted one, which was everybody, with their free sample. The group returned to the shop which Lee had already started to close down. The rest of the customers had been shoed off and only the few of them remained in the store.

"And now you all get free reign to purchase whatever you want without others getting in your way. It's the least we can do for our fellow soldiers of Dumbledore. And now we can give you the discount we planned from the beginning for being so great!"

Lee smiled at them and stood behind the cash register while George wandered the store with the other excited students. Fred, who was still wearing that silly Santa hat stuck with Harry as he picked up a few things, each time he did Fred made a mark on the scroll he was holding presumably an inventory. Harry didn't really take much, he didn't see much use for a lot of it as he had no intentions of playing any jokes on people. He more picked the things that could help him escape a death eater attack, and some things he thought were simply amusing.

When he, Fred and Hermione left the Shop to head back to the Leaky Cauldron his bag from their shop contained a few boxes of Wildfire Whiz-Bangs, A few portable swamps and deserts, a portable beach and a portable rainbow plains (just because). A few fake wands (never know when those could come in handy) and an invisible head hat for Ron when they use the invisibility cloak (who was much too tall to use it right now without hunching over very uncomfortably), a bottomless mug and a few Skiving Snackboxes (just in case) which he had made sure to keep from Hermione.

When they reached the Leaky Cauldron they found Bill Weasley drinking butterbeer with Vincent, Gregory, and a still very annoyed Malfoy. After saying good night to them Harry and Hermione went upstairs to get their things from their rooms. Hermione then said goodbye to Harry and Fred before tapping her badge three times activating the portkey to her house.

"Here you go." Fred said, "This will take you directly to your room at the Dursleys. Be sure to be careful for the next few days. And either me, George or both of us will be back to pick you up and portkey with you to platform nine and three quarters on the first."

"I take it I activate it by shoving it down over my eyes?" Harry asked smirking.

"Good study, yes that is exactly how you trigger it! In any case I have to get home, Mum will be expecting us and I do hope to get some of her nice food tonight." with that Fred disapparated leaving Harry by himself in the room.

Harry was sure to grab all of his stuff (which was a lot) to make sure it went along with him (a daunting task) and then used his left hand to pull the hat down over his eyes. In an instant and a slight pull of his abdomen he was back in his room at number 4 privet drive with a pile of school supplies and random stuff to organize and put away. _Should have bought an enlarged trunk,_ Harry thought, _Oh well, I'll think of something._ And he began moving things around and putting them at least out of the way.


	5. The Order on the Express

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 5: The Order on the Express

Harry did not see much of Hermione, Malfoy, Vincent or Gregory the last few days of August before they were all scheduled to go to the station December first. He and Hermione met at Ms. Figg's house so Harry could mix the potion. It was quite amusing as they had each decided to test the potion by turning into each other. It had worked perfectly so for that hour they had a lot of fun confusing and annoying Malfoy (who was also aware that they had finished the potion) with random banter. After that Hermione bottled the potion in a large flask she had brought from home and then they spent the entire rest of the afternoon goofing off.

Harry had very carefully packed the potion in his trunk wrapping it in a large shirt with holes in it that was useless as anything but a rag. After putting that in the back corner of his truck and making sure it wouldn't move around by piling heavy books around and on top of it (Hermione had assured him that it wouldn't break unless it was hit against something rather hard and had suggested that he do just this as the flask getting crushed was unlikely).

Harry hadn't wanted to give Snape ANY reason to go back on his word and so he had done all his summer work and gone over it twice making sure that he got it done completely and thoroughly on his own. In the spare time he had finished his other homework as well (although it was not nearly as neat and complete as his Potions work, something that to his knowledge had never been true before).

Harry was determined to get the highest NEWT possible in potions just to prove to Snape that he could do it. It was a matter of pride now. Harry knew that regardless of the circumstances that Snape had gone out on a limb for him and despite his dislike for the man he was not going to make that a mistake. He wouldn't ruin Snape's day by doing mediocre his class and being a git to him like he had been in the past. He would ruin it by succeeding and giving that bastard no reason to be a git to him. Harry could think of no better punishment for Snape then a succeeding Harry Potter in one of his hardest classes for two whole years. It was perfect and it didn't require anything of Harry other than what he should have been doing in that class all along anyway.

So now quite a bit happier with himself and life in general then he had felt all summer, and funnily enough with Snape to thank for that. Harry was incredibly excited to go to Hogwarts for his first NEWT year. He was up before anyone else in the house without being woken up by something (another thing he couldn't remember ever being) and was ready to go quite quickly. He had even taken a very long and refreshing shower where he got himself as clean as he possibly could and cleaned Hedwig's cage (something that had grown incredibly rank over the summer). So when the Weasley twins finally arrived to pick him up, he was completely ready to go and in fact had been waiting not so patiently for over two hours.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked in mock anger when the two redheads appeared in his room both of them wearing pajamas. "You are after all," he looked at his bedside clock. "22 seconds late!" He smirked.

Fred and George smiled at him with amused expressions.

"Well, Fred here thought we'd make an entrance… Didn't work too well did it?" George said as he stepped up towards Harry smiling. Harry noticed that George had a more innocent smile then Fred did. Fred's looked more mischievous like a conniving two year old. George's smile looked a lot more like a small boy simply happy with life. _(A/N: It's thanks to the Harry Potter Lexicon that I was able to really see this slight difference between them to put it into writing)._

"No not particularly. But that's ok, I'm sure you'll do better next time." Harry's voice held a sarcastic tone. He was glad that the twins had not in fact left the school completely even if they were only there now to protect him. He didn't really realize until then just how much less fun Gryffindor tower would be without them.

"Ok well then. You know the drill with the portkey so I don't need to explain that. So here it is." George absentmindedly sat next to Harry on his bed while Fred spoke. "The three of us go to the station using the portkey you still have."

"The Santa hat is still a portkey?" Harry was surprised.

"Now it is again, Dumbledore himself made it. Apparently it had a contingent effect to re-enchant itself to send people to platform nine and three quarters. Don't ask me how it works." George seemed truly perplexed as he said this. Fred looked less perplexed and more intrigued.

"Well as I was saying." Fred continued, apparently he was happy to have the floor at the moment. "After we port there, George will accompany you on the train."

Harry blinked, "You sure made a big deal of just saying that." he mused.

"Fred's like that you know, making big deals out of everything." George smiled as he ragged on his twin.

"I noticed." Harry said, again noticing their slight personality differences that seemed more glaringly apparent then they ever really did before. George was certainly the more down to earth of the two, Fred the more eccentric, although they both seemed to have a certain dramatic flair about them.

"I DO NOT!" Fred said comically as he, obviously purposely, tripped and fell over in mock surprise.

"Point taken," Harry responded pointedly, "and proven," he continued amused at Fred's antics.

"You know I would rather watch this but the train leaves the station soon. So unless you want to walk to Hogwarts from here I recommend we leave soon." George sounded odd saying this, too Hermione like. Then again, Hermione was sounding very much more Wesley twin like so he supposed it made sense.

"Ok, let's go then." Fred transfigured his pajamas into robes as he said this and George followed suit as Fred reached for the Santa hat on Harry's bedside table. The three of them gathered Harry's stuff together between them then took the sides of the hat. Fred tried to shove it on Harry's head, but Harry was faster and managed to shove the hat down on Fred's head instead. He knew George had to have helped him do this as he knew there was no way he could have overpowered Fred on his own. His lips curled into a smile as he felt the familiar pulling sensation on his naval.

It was odd appearing directly on the wizard platform. Every other year Harry had entered through the wall in the station. Except of course his second year where Dobby had sealed the platform and he and Ron had taken Arthur's enchanted car and had that unfortunate run in with that Womping willow. Of course had they not taken the car they would have been eaten by a family of giant spiders. Getting a lecture from Ms. McGonagall and Snape was much preferable to that, even if they had missed Ginny's sorting.

The platform itself, much like Diagon Alley looked a lot more hustled. There were a lot more people then he remembered seeing before. Parents hugged and said goodbye to their children nervously and members of the Order of the Phoenix were guarding the platform. He saw at least four members as they had taken a defensive posture around the point he Fred and George had appeared in. Immediately to his left was the slightly old looking clothed Remus Lupin although he wore a sash covering the lower part of his face, leaving only his eyes and now shorter hair visible. Harry recognized his eyes immediately, that and he had winked at Harry as soon as he had looked in his direction. Harry was sure that the sash was because Remus was a werewolf and the Order didn't want a massive panic from everyone their first day back. On his right was Mad Eye Moody who Harry knew could see him at any particular moment do to his magical eye. Which at first had freaked him out and now he simply found quite nauseating. He looked mostly the same scars and everything. Looking back to his left he saw Bill Weasley again who smiled and waved his wandless hand at him then returned to his original alert state. To his right flank was Kingsley Shacklebolt, a tall dark skinned wizard who Harry had met only a few times, but who he knew was a very good Auror and one of the best people for keeping him and everyone else safe. Harry was a bit disappointed at not seeing Nymphadora Tonks there, as she had been the more amusing of his advance guard from last year. He still wished he was a metamorphmagus so he could hide his scar. _I wonder what her assignment is?_ He asked himself, knowing full well that she would be here at his side chattering with him if she didn't have one.

Kingsley spoke first, "I take it there was no trouble than?" He said looking towards Harry, Fred and George. Kingsley had always had a deep calming voice despite his serious demeanor.

"Nope, the Dursleys didn't even make a peep." George responded.

"And we were so looking forward to shocking the bajeezes out of them too!" Fred complained as he removed the Santa hat from his eyes. Remus, Harry and Bill laughed while George smiled and shrugged unimpressively. Harry could tell that despite George's nonchalant demeanor he had hoped that would happen as well.

Kingsley just raised an eyebrow and smirked. Everyone in the Order had to know of Fred and George's antics. They were legendary at school.

"You remembered to keep your wands out of your pants pockets and to bring your own snacks right?" Mad Eye hadn't turned at all and was still covering the platform with his wand, although Harry was sure that his magical eye was looking in their direction.

"I doubt that the staff on the express would try and poison the students, especially with us on board." Remus said calmly.

"Well, with polyjuice potions and stuff one can never be too careful. We must remember…CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody had always been a bit on the more paranoid side. And a bit senile as well, but no one could deny his skill as an Auror and Harry thought that after him being tricked by Voldemort the previous two years, he pushed back a slight surge of feeling at that thought, that paranoia was not beyond reason.

"Well, I'll meet you guys at school." Fred said as he bowed and shoved the Santa hat on Harry's head. "One more thing, Dumbledore said that this hat is a special portkey he made just for you Harry, if you shove it down over your eyes and then think of either the Leaky Cauldron or your dorm at Hogwarts it will take you there. He wanted to be sure you could escape if the school was attacked." At that he stepped back and disapparated with a small pop.

"You're all going on the train to guard me?" Harry asked slightly mortified. "You already have a personal guardian for me. I'm not just some helpless kid I can take care of myself you know!" He felt anger rising in him as he said this and immediately suppressed it. Anger led to memories and memories led to guilt and that was the last thing Harry needed right now.

Remus Lupin laughed again before saying. "We know that, but were not just there to protect you. We are going on the express just in case anything happens at all. With you there and the shear number of students in general Dumbledore didn't want to take any chances. The last thing we need would be for a flock of dementors to attack the train in our absence. We'd end up at school with a bunch of mindless corpses then what would the instructors do."

Harry shivered at the memory of the dementor. "I see your point sorry, lost a hold of myself there." He apologized meekly.

"That's ok Harry, we still love you!" George's light hearted tone calmed him a bit.

"Of course with what you have been through you would want to feel in control." Kingsley's voice was still calm and this was the only reason Harry hadn't severely blushed at this statement. "But you have to remember that regardless of the past things can still happen and that you have to put your trust in people besides yourself especially if you want to be an Auror. Aurors need to be able to work alone but also to have complete trust in another in order to survive." Kingsley smiled as he said this.

"Well, don't blindly trust though Potter. After all there is always Imperius to deal with." Mad Eye put in again. "Just remember: Constant Vigilance! And you will always go far." He turned and smiled at Harry too, but his magical eye was looking the other direction still keeping guard over the area. Harry had forgotten how disconcerting that eye looked like that. A white sphere encased in Moody's eye socket.

"Hey it's nearly eleven now we should probably head towards the train now. Wouldn't want to hold everyone up now would we?" Bill stepped up from his position around Harry and prodded him and George towards the train. Remus and Moody took Harry and George's frontal flanks while Bill stood directly behind them and Kingsley was wandering around them looking alert.

Harry noticed that this little defensive posture around him got a lot less notice then he would have thought. He also noticed that plenty of the students that remained on the platform were acting just as defensive. Of course, most of the students were already on the train, and Harry knew he would feel a lot safer once he was in a car with his friends.

Remus and Kingsley helped carry Harry's things onto the train. After they were safely on the train the four members bid the two farewell and headed off in different directions. Remus and Kingsley went towards the front of the train and Moody and Bill towards the back.

Harry was about to give up the search for a car he felt comfortable sitting in when he heard Neville's familiar voice say, "Hey Harry, why don't you sit here with us?"

Neville, Seamus, and Dean were sitting in an otherwise empty section. Neville who seemed to be the same rotund boy he had always been, just bigger now was pruning his _mimbulus mimbletonia_ carefully while Seamus and Dean played exploding snap. Dean didn't really seem any different to Harry but then again his main feature had always been being tall, and as he was sitting down it wasn't exactly obvious how much he had grown. Seamus seemed to have changed the most growing from an average boy to a strong riveting youth with a build not unlike the Weasley twins. Although his face, other than the stubs of facial hair looked basically the same as it always had. Harry pulled his trunk in and stored it away then sat down earning not more then happy nods from his dorm mates. George, on the other hand got a surprised look from all of them, obviously remembering the twins' great escape from the school the previous year.

"What are you doing here?" A shocked Seamus' voice said although he was smiling.

"Yeah, I thought you had enough of school." Dean looked more intrigued.

"Well, actually I am here to be Harry here's personal bodyguard." George said nonchalantly. "Me and Fred will be staying in your and taking classes with your year."

"Cool." The three boys chorused at once. Harry realized that he had missed his dorm mates a lot, especially Seamus whom he had not really gotten along with for most of last year.

"Hey so what NEWTs are you guys taking?" Harry wanted to know who would be in his classes that he knew.

"Well I'm taking defense against the dark arts. I mean how could I not after being in the DA?" Dean sounded excited. "I am also taking charms and transfiguration, you know the normal stuff. And this new class called invocation that sounds interesting. Last comes care of magical creatures, despite Hagrid's choices I rather liked that class."

"Cool! Looks like we have a pretty similar schedule," Harry was happy he wasn't going to have all his NEWTs without at least a few familiar faces. "I have charms transfiguration, care of magical creatures, defense against the dark arts, herbology, and potions."

Seamus gasped at this and Dean did a double take, "Did you say potions?" Dean's voice rang out.

"Yep, Harry here is a regular mixing genius." George said sarcasm all over his tone. "Besides, how would the year be without constant complaining about Snape?"

"Funny." Harry said in a drawl but obviously amused tone.

"Harry! You're in NEWTs Potions too?" Harry did a double take along with everyone at the table at Neville's comment.

"You're in potions too?" Harry couldn't keep the utter shock out of his voice. He had been hoping another Gryffindor besides Hermione would be on the class with him but he had never expected it would be Neville. "But that requires an outstanding OWL?" Harry was sure Neville hadn't made that. Neville didn't seem as nervous as he was in Snape's class but he was far from calm.

"Yeah I know. I got an A on my potions OWL. But I expressed interest in being a Healer to my grandmother stupidly. She said that one stingy teacher should not be able to hold a child back from their dream so she went straight to the headmaster and got Snape overruled. So now I HAVE to take it because she went out of her way despite not being asked too and Snape has been forced to make an exception so I can't not do it. And I have no idea how I am going to pass it." Neville looked quite down. "But it IS required to be a healer and I want to be able to help people."

"Don't worry." Harry said. "You aren't the only one here who got into NEWTs potions on a technicality. I didn't get an outstanding on my potions OWL either. And Hermione is also in the class so we should be able to pull through. What are your other NEWTs classes by the way?"

"Charms and transfiguration and of course healing, herbology and after the DA defense against the dark arts, I took classes I thought would be all around useful besides the ones particularly required of a healer."

"It looks like most of us are in the same classes." Seamus stated. "I have charms, transfiguration, defense against the dark arts," at this he blushed a little, Seamus had only been to one of the DA meetings last year do to he and Harry's untimely disagreement and so was behind the rest of the people in the car on that subject, "invocation and psionics."

Everyone looked at him at that, "Psionics?" Harry asked.

"Yeah the magic of the mind. Apparently it is a new class being offered at Hogwarts this year for the first time in over a hundred years. At least that's what the class description said. It sounded interesting so I figured 'why not?' after all it can't really hurt to have knowledge of that could it?"

Harry thought about his schedule again. "I imagine a lot of people are in Charms. It seems like a very useful NEWT probably required for a lot of jobs."

"I also noticed that professor Flitwick didn't seem to have any real requirements for it either, Just that you passed your Charms OWL with an A and got at least and A on both the Practical and theoretical examinations." Dean said. "Most of the other classes required at least an E to get into. Thank goodness I managed to snake an E on most of my important OWLs. It took a lot of studying and quite a bit of effort but it was worth it."

"Yeah me too," Seamus started, "I wonder how many people are going to be in transfiguration? I imagine quite a few. It seems quite useful too and very well suited to just the wizarding world in general."

"Yeah I agree." Harry continued, "It seems likely that there will be less people in the transfiguration NEWT than the charms NEWT but I imagine that's just do to the requirements being steeper."

"I cannot believe that I got the scores I did on my OWLs." Neville chimed in. "I actually managed to get an E on my transfiguration OWL, and actually passing potions? I was incredibly shocked. I was sure I wouldn't qualify for any NEWTs at all and here I am qualified for a decent number." Despite his self chiding Neville looked genuinely surprised in an accomplished sort of way. Harry didn't think Neville needed to feel proud about anything. He had seen him use a wand perfectly well when he wasn't thinking about it. It was only when he was trying to do things for others that he really choked although he could work on his aim. He commonly missed with curses in the DA something many an innocent bystander could attest to.

"We knew you could do it." George said. "After all we saw you at the DA and you were great. Surprised the lot of us I'd say."

"Definitely, I always knew you lacked self esteem but when you got over that you were a lot more able then many others." Dean smiled in Neville's direction.

"You don't need to do this you know. I know my destructive accidents are legendary." Neville looked down at his feet heart fallen.

"Don't do this to yourself mate. It's just not right." Seamus put his hand on Neville's shoulder.

At that point Ron and Hermione entered the car. "What'd we miss?" Ron stated looking at his dorm mates.

"We're trying to cheer up Neville. He seems to think that he doesn't deserve his OWL scores or something." George stated with a smirk. "Rubbish if you ask me, I mean how can you not deserve them? You were the one to take the test so you got the scores. It's that simple."

"Thanks." Neville looked up and smiled again. Harry was glad, Neville was always too down on himself.

"Oh Ron, we were just discussing what NEWTs we would be taking." Dean looked at Hermione. "Sorry Hermione but I assume your taking basically every one in the book so I'll expect to see you in all my classes anyway."

Hermione scowled at that remark and then stomped out of the car claming she had prefect duties. Everyone in the car let out a guilty but relieved laugh. It was very clear that Hermione had greatly wanted to describe all her schedule's nuances in great detail. While interesting Harry supposed he didn't want the entire rest of the train trip to be an explanation for why she took each NEWT when he thought it was just as likely that she simply took every NEWT she could fit into her schedule without resorting to time travel as she had learned that lesson her third year.

"I'm taking charms, care of magical creatures, transfiguration, defense against the dark arts and herbology." Ron said in answer to Dean's question ignoring Hermione's outburst. He and Harry both knew that she would be over this in a week at the most and that they would all be back to their merry selves after their schedules had normalized.

"Looks like were all in charms, transfiguration and defense against the dark arts." Harry said happily.

"Yeah and it looked like none of us have any classes without at least one other of us." Seamus stated. "Well except for my psionics class of course although I bet Hermione is in it too so no loss of Gryffindor there."

"Harry what NEWTs are you taking?" Ron asked.

"Charms, care of magical creatures, transfiguration, herbology, defense against the dark arts and potions."

"That's bloody brilliant." Ron said excitedly, "You're in every one of my classes." Then recognition hit his face and yet another double take was done. "You're taking potions! With Snape!?" He asked rather loudly with a very shocked tone and expression.

"Yes actually. I still plan on being an Auror." Ron's head sank at this. Apparently Ron hadn't expected Harry to continue that route without him.

"Don't think this is a bad thing Ronnikens." George started, Ron blushing at the use of his childhood nickname in front of his dorm mates. "Just go with the flow. I know I for one would feel a lot safer with Harry as an Auror protecting me from dark wizards and you at his side protecting us from those nasty giants and dragons."

Ron, still blushing, smiled at this and seemed to perk up quite a bit. "Well at least I don't have to be in that git's class anymore. You sure you're up for that?" Ron stated half seriously.

"Yeah lucky." Neville chimed in earning the room yet another double take.

"You're taking potions?" Ron looked totally shocked.

"Yeah, I was just as shocked as you are, believe me. But at least you don't have to deal with Snape anymore. He still gives me the creeps." Neville shuddered. Harry remembered that Snape was truly Neville's greatest fear greater than even other death eaters or Voldemort himself. They had learned that their third year when they were fighting the Boggart. It was the funniest thing in the world. _Snape in an old ladies dress?_ Harry thought,_ priceless, truly priceless._ His smile widened at the fond memory.

Suddenly the rest of the car's smiles disappeared. Harry had to look to see what had caused this. Malfoy was walking passed. Harry hadn't noticed. After the summer Malfoy's existence wasn't a notable threat anymore. Harry noticed that while he glanced in the room and scowled that that was the end of it.

A bunch of surprised or angry comments followed in his wake.

"He didn't call me weasel?" "Bloody I thought he was going to come in here." "That git I otta…" At this point Harry tuned them out quite tired of his friends worn out responses to the Slytherin.

"Harry, he didn't even call you scar head what was that about?" Seamus' voice brought him back to reality where everyone was now staring at him.

"Yeah and you didn't even seem to notice him approach. Nor even respond to him in any way what was that about." Ron seemed more angry at Harry's lack of a response to Malfoy than he seemed annoyed at Malfoy making an appearance. Malfoy's scowl was old and expected. Harry ignoring it was not and he was not looking forward to explaining that not only had Malfoy lived nearby him all summer but that he had spent most of his time in the boy's presence. George who was well aware of this fact remained silent.

"Just spaced I guess." Harry tried to shrug it off but they weren't buying it. _Damnit!_ He thought.

"Well actually I really don't care about Malfoy anymore to tell you the truth." Harry said as deadpan as he could make it. This brought even more looks of shock from everyone.

"But… but… What about all the other times before!" Ron stuttered, he didn't even seem angry anymore just in total shock.

"I have had a change of heart. Frankly it's just not worth caring." This was true, although he was not about to give up exactly why without Hermione here to back him up. She could stop Ron from doing something both he and Harry would regret. Harry had not forgotten that Ron was more than a foot taller than him.

"But it's Malfoy!" Dean stood up and Harry saw that he and Ron were now almost identical in height. _Great, just great._

"Yeah so what? People have hated me and most of them had a change of heart." He looked at Seamus apologetically before continuing. "Some of you are in this room right now."

Both Ron and Dean looked at him with pure anger now. Harry felt nothing but slight agitation. Then the door opened and Hermione walked in. "What are you doing?" She said in her admonishing prefect tone.

"Harry just said that he has stopped hating Malfoy!" Ron said it as if it was the worst thing in the universe.

"Ok… And your point is?" She said skeptically. "So have I." Ron looked at both of them like they had just told him they bought him a blast ended skrewt.

"But…" He said.

Hermione looked at Harry and then something dawned on her. "Oh. Honestly Harry do I have to always be the bearer of odd news. Long story short Malfoy Vincent…oh right Crabbe and Gregory…well Goyle were sent to live near Harry so that they could be protected from the death eaters. I was hanging out with Harry at the time often and they were there and it was still better at Ms. Figg's house with them there then at Harry's uncle's house. We learned to tolerate Malfoy eventually because it just wasn't worth the effort it took to hate him. That and neither Vincent Crabbe, nor Gregory Goyle is that bad really once you get to know them."

Harry deadpanned "Yeah, Malfoy's the real problem but his bark is much worse then his bite without his father to back him up. I doubt he would bother attacking us at this point. He'd be too embarrassed."

Dean seemed placated by this but Ron still stood there, he looked hurt more so than angry. "Why didn't you tell me?" He said obviously feeling quite left out.

"I was afraid you'd react just the way you did." Harry said guiltily. "That and I was still a bit miffed about the fight we had last year." He added yet more guiltily.

"Ron, this is pointless you know that you and Harry are going to make up so why not just do it now and get it over with as save us all a lot of hardship." Seamus stated. "I do not want to be privy to another one of your squabbles that keeps us up all night."

Ron looked at Harry who said, "I really am sorry mate. I was tired and apathetic and I just didn't have the energy to deal with it at the time. I retrospect it probably would have been better but I wasn't exactly thinking straight."

"Yeah I'm sorry too it's just weird to not have you two fighting that's all." Ron sat down and crossed his arms. "Don't think I'll stop disliking him this easily though. He's still Malfoy. The bloody git."

Harry was trying to think of some way to steer the conversation away from Draco Malfoy when Remus Lupin, as if reading his mind, decided to check on them at that exact moment.

As soon as he stuck his head in Seamus, Dean and Neville perked up and said. "Professor Lupin!?"

Harry, Ron, George and Hermione having a more personal connection to the man and knowing him intimately since their third year simply smiled and said, "Hi Remus."

Seamus continued talking excitedly, "Does this mean we're actually going to have a competent defense against the dark arts teacher this year?"

Remus laughed, Harry knew he was quite aware of their other defense against the dark arts teachers both before and after his year. "Well, yes you do as I happen to know the person. But no it is not me. However I will be around the school grounds playing lapdog though so I'll be available if you need pointers."

"Lapdog?" George raised an eyebrow and a smirk at the older man.

"Well…" Lupin started but Harry interrupted him.

"Can you tell us who it will be?" Harry asked curious as too who Dumbledore had convinced to take the accursed job.

"Nope promised I wouldn't didn't want anything like two years ago happening to this one." Harry thought of Moody and got the point immediately.

"Drat!" Seamus looked like he had just been turned down for a date and Harry could not help but snicker. George turned towards Seamus and raised his eyebrow more and continued to smirk.

"Oh well, but if Professor Lupin thinks he's good then the new professor has to be at least better then Umbridge." Dean's comment caused everyone in the car to scowl.

"I probably shouldn't be telling you this but I was incredibly happy when those Centaurs carried that woman off. However horrible she was to you at school you don't know the half of what she did to me with her damn proposed laws about half breeds." This comment got stares from Seamus and Neville. "Oops, probably shouldn't have said that part. Oh well, no point in hiding it now. I am a werewolf if you didn't already know that."

Harry, Ron, George, and Hermione already knew that of course. Dean seemed non plussed Neville looked surprised but quickly normalized. Seamus looked shocked and started stammering. "I th… th… thought that was a rumor?"

"Nope, true as can be." Remus said. "Don't worry though I will be very well insulated from the student body on days of the full moon. You have no real reason to fear me. Professor Dumbledore has made sure of that." With that he left the six students to their own devices again.

"I still can't believe that we had a werewolf for a teacher and no one told me." Seamus stated partially annoyed and partially excited.

"Well me and Ron didn't know until the end of the year anyway." Harry said, memory's of that night with Peter and Sirius flooded his brain for slightly too long. He hesitated as he felt anger start to bubble up in him. Shoving it down took all his control but he did it and then the memory of that night fell into the ether that was his mind.

No one seemed to notice this as Dean spoke. "I don't see why you guys didn't figure it out it was pretty obvious after Snape did that whole spiel about Werewolves on the night of the full moon that Lupin was away. But I really don't see the point in worrying about that. As long as he's controlled during the full moon which was obviously done he's not any more of a danger to any of us then any other wizard would be."

Neville spoke up next, "Besides this is professor Lupin were talking about he was only the best defense against the dark arts teacher we had."

_And the only one who hadn't tried to kill me._ Harry thought.

"Is anyone else hungry?" Ron's question generated growls from all 7 stomachs in the room.

"Dreadfully so," Hermione said, "I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast this morning because of all the extra stuff I had to do. I have been running on Caffeine all morning."

Harry was about to offer to buy food for everyone from the approaching trolley when seemingly out of nowhere as if he had been listening into the conversation. Moody appeared in the doorway with a large box of muggle crackers.

"Hungry eh? Well now you'll shouldn't be eat'n stuff off of the trolley here. Never know who might be getting it." With that he opened a package of the crackers and took a corner off of every one in the stack as he passed them to Harry one by one eating it, Harry assumed to show them that they were safe, before continuing. "Oh and you might want to consider a hip flask. Safer then drinking from anything others have touched. Harry here should definitely consider it. But until then you want a sip?" Moody maneuvered the flask towards Harry.

"Thanks Professor but I'll pass." Harry declined.

"Ok but be careful and remember CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Before handing the entire large box of crackers to Harry and leaving the area.

"Bit of a nutter that one is." Ron said taking a cracker from Harry and eating it.

"Nothing a few flasks of fire whisky can't fix." George joked. "Besides one does have to admit the guy does look out for us. Wow these crackers aren't half bad I wonder where he got them?" George stated as he started munching on them greedily.

Harry of course had eaten them before as they were the only snack Dudley and thus Harry had been allowed to have, when he was allowed any snack at all. Dean and Hermione likely knew what they were too being from Muggle households. Seamus seemed more interested in Remus still then worrying about the crackers although he did start nibbling on a few of them. Neville just tried them like he was just trying something new he didn't know he'd like and Ron started scarfing them like George.

They spent a long time just chatting amongst themselves until Hermione and Ron realized that they had to go to another prefects meeting and quickly left. Harry decided that now would be as good a time as any to change into his school robes since Hermione wasn't here and everyone else was or would be a housemate. The others besides George who was already wearing robes took their cue from Harry and there was much shuffling around as the 4 of them tried to get dressed in the small compartment. After that was done Harry spent time admiring the stars that had just started coming out as they entered the last bit before the station in Hogsmeade.

As the train neared the station there was a bit more shuffling around in the halls and random people, quite a few of them from the DA started waving and saying 'hi' as they walked passed.

"Hmm…glad you guys aren't prefects aren't ya?" George stated with a smile. "They probably have Ron and Hermione swamped with work trying to protect the castle and such. It'll be a wonder if Hermione gets any sleep at all this year what with her commonly high class load and all." George then turned towards everyone else in the room. "Can't have too many things to worry about, after all were only human. Well at least I think we are. I never really checked." Harry smirked at his slightly amusing comments realizing again that Fred and George were in fact very different from each other but also still quite similar.

It was then that the Hogsmeade station came into view and the lot of them started getting together the things they needed like their wands.

Hagrid was calling the first years to the boats at the edge of the large lake by the castle as usual and people were gathering around the thestral drawn carriages that take the older students to the school.

Harry had been scared of the strange skeletal winged horses when he first saw them at the beginning of the previous year. But now they seemed a lot less scary after having ridden them to the Department of Mysteries. A bit of anger filled him but he didn't even have to quash it this time because one of the thestrals looked at him and screeched in what Harry thought was approval. _You must be the thestral I rode last year._ Harry thought as he walked up to it and petted its head. "Sorry I don't have any snacks for you this time." He said to it in a semi soothing tone. The thestral looked at him with what Harry could only describe as begging despite their skeletal appearance and screechy noises.

Some of the other students were staring at him but he didn't care. Neville soon walked up to him and the thestral looked at him with the same look. Neville looked kind of surprised and when he didn't have anything either the thestral lived simply with Harry scratching its ear.

"Its odd but I was never really scared of them, a bit odded out but not really scared." Neville said. "Of course I have been able to see them since my first year here so seeing them was always normal."

"Well I can't say I wasn't scared of them when I could first see them last year but now after that whole thing with the department of mysteries last year I have grown to respect them a lot more. They were there for me when quite a few others were not." Harry felt himself tear at the thought of his godfather's death. For some reason he wasn't angry at the moment just sad. Neville put his hand on Harry's shoulder, he understood he had lost parents too. Perhaps worse than Harry's parents and godfather being dead, Neville's parents were in a long term ward at Saint Mungo's Wizard hospital after a group of death eaters had driven them insane. He felt the anger come _Can't let it win if I let it win then I let them win._ With that angry outburst he quashed what was left of his anger and looked at Neville who was smiling a consoling smile.

"Hey why the long faces you guys shouldn't be down like that after all you're among friends and classmates and the like." George put one arm over each boy's shoulder, something that looked to Harry to be quite awkward as Neville was at least half a head taller then him. "By the way I was always wondered what do thestrals actually look like?" He asked. "I want to know but I don't particularly want to be able to see them." He continued.

"Right you don't," Harry said glad to be on a different although not unrelated topic. "Well they look rather like skeletal horses with bat wings." Harry said as he tried to think of a way to describe the strange creatures.

"Yeah I can't really think of any better way to describe them either." Neville chimed in, "Their cries sound really screechy and are slightly irritating but they are nice enough wouldn't really recommend riding them though."

"Yeah, pretty bumpy," Harry remembered how it had felt to ride the thestrals and the hippogriff. No doubt about it, he preferred his firebolt any day. Then he remembered that he had never gotten his firebolt back from the dungeons the previous year and his heart sunk. _Damn, well hopefully it's still there although I doubt it with my luck Malfoy has it now or something._

"Would you be Harry Potter?" A distinctly American accented voice snapped him out of his reverie. "I was told to look for a dark haired, green eyed boy with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead named Harry Potter." The voice continued.

Harry looked at George who looked alert and ready to draw a wand yet intrigued. Neville looked surprised. _No help there, they seem just as unsure as I feel._ He self consciously covered pushed his hair down over his forehead before turning towards the direction the voice had come from.

Harry saw a thin boy about his height and about his age maybe slightly younger with grey eyes, light skin and strawberry blond hair that was almost red. He was wearing Hogwarts student's robes and had a wand stuck in his right ear much the same way Luna stored hers when she wasn't using it and a metal muggle ballpoint pen stuck in his left. He looked rather lost. "I'm sorry I have no idea who I am looking for, I must have gotten it wrong ah well sorry." The boy looked down dejectedly and started to turn away. This surprised Harry, he would have thought that any wizard even an American one would have known what he looked like by now, after all he was 'the boy who lived.' The fact that he didn't seem to know much about Harry made him instantly like the boy.

"No you were right I am Harry Potter."

The boy turned towards him and looked at him questioningly. "I certainly hope so I have been given strange looks since I got on the train and started looking for you." the boy said. "You wouldn't be pulling my leg now would you?" He looked like he was expecting that so Harry decided it was best to just tell him the truth.

"Nope I am Harry Potter lightning scar and all." With that he lifted up his bangs and showed the boy the scar. His eyes widened.

"Oh my, but that is quite exact. I was imagining something a bit less…picture perfect I guess." He stared at Harry's scar like it was the oddest thing in the universe. But there was something totally different about how he stared at it that made Harry incredibly happy rather than uncomfortable like he usually was. He seemed obsessed with how odd the scar was and not the person who had it.

"Who might you be?" George said, clearly more agitated at the boy's odd actions.

"Oh, yeah, sorry I get lost some times. I'm Wesley, Wesley Tinderspoon." And with that he extended his left hand towards them. George took it grudgingly then Neville who had been just staring intrigued the entire time, and finally Harry himself. Wesley then smiled slightly and said, "Nice to meet you."

His face got a morbidly intrigued look on it as he again stared at Harry's forehead. "How did you get that scar anyway? It seems a bit too perfect to be something accidental…"


	6. Wesley Tinderspoon

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 6: Wesley Tinderspoon

Time seemed to slow as Wesley asked this question. Harry could accept that he might not know quite what he looked like and how exact the scar was but he found in incredibly hard to believe that he would be asking how he got it. He would have thought that the destruction of such a dark wizard as Voldemort would be a bit more earth shattering then that. To think that a wizarding child would not know about it seemed quite odd. From the looks on George and Neville's faces they seemed equally shocked.

Wesley started shifting around obviously embarrassed at the response to his question. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't have asked me and my big mouth getting me in trouble again." Harry laughed at his total misreading of their response to his inquiry. Harry was so relieved to finally meet a wizard who didn't think of him as the boy who lived as soon as he met him that his shock was replaced with glee. Wesley apparently thought he was being rude asking for such a personal question when the fact that he didn't already know was what brought their responses. This total change in demeanor seemed to make Wesley even more lost then he already was.

"Well, let's get on the carts before they leave and we end up walking up to the castle." Harry said and then climbed into the still empty carriage attached to the thestral he had just stopped petting. He was certain that Ron and Hermione were in some important prefects meeting and that they could be ages and there was a complete carriage of four people right in front of him. He was also curious about Wesley as he had never met an American wizard before. George followed him in and then Neville followed. Wesley hesitated and looked up at them uncomfortably. Harry motioned for him to get in and then he smiled and climbed into the carriage.

"So you were asking me about my scar?" Harry said amused that he was actually explaining it to someone and not having it explained to him. Wesley's face returned to a slightly agitated but intrigued look before he slowly nodded. "Well when I was really young I was the target of a madman with a vendetta." He felt odd explaining this. He would have thought he would feel sad or uncomfortable with it but he realized that he really wasn't ever uncomfortable with the event having lived with it his entire life it was more so everyone else knowing more about it then he the one who had done it. "I was targeted by the Killing curse," at that Harry felt himself get slightly glum as a look of recognition came over Wesley's face, but he said nothing so Harry continued. "And I somehow lived." He wasn't about to tell this boy he barely knew the whole story but he was sure that he would get some version of it from somewhere and it might as well be from him.

"Wow that's harsh." Wesley said, "I remember my parents talking about something like that happening in Britain but it happened when I was too young to remember. To think that I would be told to find this very person…" At that Wesley looked at him with a kind of brotherly look, like he had seen Fred give George.

"Enough about Harry," George piped in obviously getting bored of hearing the same old story over and over again. "What about you why are you here?"

Wesley got slightly agitated again as he answered. "I really don't know. I was taken after my last term by a professor Dumbledore and I stayed with him for the summer. At one point I was told that I would be going to school here instead of N.Y.M.A. and at that point he brought me an odd old hat and it put me into Gryffindor whatever that is." The other boy's intrigued looks deepened at this nonchalant comment. "He looked slightly happy and he told me to look for a Harry Potter on the Hogwarts Express as I would be your dorm mate this year and you would be the easiest to find. I looked for you until a strange old man with a glass eye, I think Alastor was his name I had met him a few times over the summer, stopped me. He said that it would be better to wait until we were safe off the train to look as I didn't want to call too much attention to myself. Which actually he was right I don't but the likely hood of that is slim to none so I never really thought about it. After that I sat in a car full of older people who took turns walking up and down the corridors before leaving and finding you by that thestral."

Wesley talked so fast that it was unlikely that they could have interrupted his story if they wanted too. But Harry was listening as he found it hard to believe that this was mere coincidence. There was no student exchange that he knew of and so that was out which meant that Wesley was here for some other reason likely related to the fight against Voldemort and the Order of the Phoenix.

"Wow." George said before asking. "What's N.Y.M.A.?"

"Oh. The New York Magician's Academy or the New York Maturation Academy to the muggle world."

"Ah, so how are your Yankee magic schools anyway." George continued obviously fascinated by the boy now that he trusted he wasn't here to kill Harry.

"I can't say I guess they are…well I haven't really got anything to compare it to to explain it." Wesley seemed like he was a bit affronted at being the center of attention. His speech seemed forced and fast like he had too much to say but wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Neville had a different question for the boy. "You can see thestrals?" He asked meekly.

"Yeah, I saw my great uncle pass away last year." Harry was about to say he was sorry when Wesley cut him off. "I can see you already starting to pity me don't it wasn't like that. He was really old and ready to die anyway. He wanted us to be with him when he died even if he wasn't aware of it so we were. He drank a dreamless sleeping potion and then quietly and peacefully passed away. When he stopped breathing we all had a small cry and then decided to remember the good times." Harry could imagine that, he wished the death's he had experienced has been like that. The only thing he had ever seen was murder. He quickly bat down the anger that welled up again. He was going to have to stop thinking about that all together.

"Oh." Neville said, "I saw my grandfather die, he was old too and quite ready I suppose but it was still really hard on me and my grandmother."

"Cheer up. It's not all that hard all you have to do in remember the good times along with the bad." Wesley reached across and put a hand on Neville's shoulder reassuringly as he said this. Neville seemed to relax at this.

Wesley then looked at the rest of them oddly and asked, "So what's it like here at Hogwarts anyway? And who are my other dorm mates? I know their names but I know nothing else about them"

"Well actually you're looking at three of them." George said then lowered his voice conspiratively. "And I think you'll agree that we are the best looking of the bunch as well."

Wesley's eyes widened at that before he laughed and said, "Shut up!"

"Well I don't suppose you think you look better than your very identical twin right George?" Harry asked smirking.

George smirked at this and responded with, "Of course I do! My smile's cuter." He then flashed his childlike smile and Harry had to agree, it was.

Harry saw Hermione and Ron look in their direction he pointed to the others in the carriage with him and shrugged guiltily not wanting them to be left out. They just smiled back waved and Hermione mouthed 'see you in the great hall' before joining Ernie Macmillan and Padma Patil in a different carriage.

"Wow, I have never ridden in a carriage before." Wesley said clearly intrigued.

Neville looked at him oddly, "How did you get to school then?" He asked.

"Well, I grew up in California so I flew in to New York on a muggle plane. Yeah I know I know not very safe but we have really strict laws about secrecy where I come from so muggle transportation is a must. After that a bus came and picked me up and dropped me off directly in front of the school."

It was then that Wesley looked out the window and his eyes widened at the immense Castle before him. Harry remembered his first year here and how he had felt. Now the castle was normal to him, like a home, so it didn't bring out the same feeling of awe. He remembered it well though so he stopped talking and let the boy gaze out the window. George and Neville followed his lead and so the rest of the ride was in silence except for Wesley's "oo"ing and "ah"ing of the castle.

Wesley's awe just seemed to increase as the carriages stopped and the castle was right before him instead of in the distance. He looked amazed at even the hallway leading to the great hall and when he entered the great hall all Wesley did was stare at the floating candles and the sky on the ceiling. Hermione apparently couldn't resist showing off all she knew about Hogwarts a history. "It's bewitched you know." She said to him as he stared at it.

"I can tell, but it's still marvelous." He still stared up as Hermione kept talking.

"It's the night sky." She continued glad someone was actually listening to her for once.

"It's quite accurate too. I can see quite a few constellations and a few things that shouldn't be visible to the naked eye." Harry wasn't sure whether Wesley was even aware of who was talking to him after all he hadn't introduced them yet.

"Yeah I know, very beautiful isn't it?" She blushed as she talked to him. Harry heard a large intake of breath from Ron at this. Harry wasn't sure but it looked like Ron was jealous. Of course he could see why, the kid had looks. Or at least his face did. Other than that he was quite scrawny, he was of slighter build then Harry was and it looked to him like Ron could snap him in half if he wanted to.

While Wesley was admiring the sky and Hermione was admiring Wesley, Harry decided to take a look over at the teachers table. Dumbledore had his normal place at the center of the table. Professor Sprout and professor Flitwick were talking about something as they sat in their general positions. Ms. McGonagall wasn't at the table but Harry knew that she brought in the first years to be sorted so that made sense and Hagrid wasn't back yet either, his return would announce to the rest of the students that the sorting was about to begin. Quite suddenly the door off to the side of the great hall by Severus Snape (it was the same hall that he and the other champions of the triwizard tournament had exited from his fourth year) opened and a young man wearing a blindfold walked in. He didn't look that much older then many of the seventh year students and Harry had thought he was a student until he walked up to the teachers table and took a seat next to Snape. Harry thought it odd that the man was wearing a blindfold and yet seemed to know exactly where he was going. After he sat down the man started a conversation with Snape. Harry couldn't tell what his response to it was. It could have been annoyance or just Snape's normal scowl, Harry couldn't tell.

Hermione's wave knocked Harry out of his reverie she had reserved a seat for him. Seamus, Dean, and Neville were sitting on the other side of the table. Parvati and Lavender were sitting on one side of Hermione and Wesley was sitting on the other side still admiring the ceiling. The empty spot was next to Wesley opposite Hermione. Harry quickly took the spot next to Wesley and Ron sat next to him. Harry didn't notice George again until he sat down and then he saw him in between Seamus and Dean, the taller boys obscuring his view.

"Hey who's the new guy?" Dean inquired pointing at Wesley.

Wesley seemed to notice people were talking about him and stopped looking at the ceiling to respond to Dean. "I'm Wesley." He said extending his hand again.

Dean took his hand but eyed him suspiciously, Harry didn't exactly care how they got along he would have plenty of time to see that in the dorm. Right now he was trying to see the person talking to Snape who Harry was sure must be the new defense against the dark arts teacher. At this point something else caught his eye and it totally stunned him. Blaise Zabini, quiet loner Blaise who Harry had barely noticed and only knew his name because he happened to be the last person sorted his first yeah walked into the great hall. And he seemed completely different. Where shyness and distance had been, energy and pride seemed to be. He almost skipped over to the Slytherin table and sat right at the edge of it next to the Bloody Baron who he immediately struck up a conversation with.

Harry wasn't the only one to notice this. Students never talked to the Bloody Baron unless it was of some grave importance not even the Slytherins and he was the Slytherin ghost. And there was Blaise, who had last Harry ever seen been to shy to even raise a hand in class, chatting with him like they were old buddies. Quite a few eyes were on them before they went back to what they were doing.

"I don't like it." Harry heard Ron's voice from his left. "He's too cheery, and he's actually talking to the Bloody Baron! Must have joined the Death Eaters or something to get that much confidence." Ron was fuming.

"Maybe you're right." Hermione piped in "I don't know him so who knows what happened to him but he is certainly different then he was before." She said. Seamus and Dean nodded. Wesley, who of course knew nothing about this, just continued ogling the grand room.

"I agree with Ron though. All the Slytherins should be watched, I sometimes wonder why they are let back in school." Seamus voice was filled with anger at this moment.

It was then that Hagrid walked into the great hall and took his place near Dumbledore. Everyone quieted down as the door to the great hall opened and Ms. McGonagall walked through with the first years. Curiously one of them was holding her hand as if being led by her rather than being with the other first years. McGonagall seemed to be in quite better health then she was after the stunning incident with Delores Umbridge, she wasn't really even using her cane anymore simply using it like any healthy person might use a walking stick. When Ms. McGonagall pulled out the stool and the Sorting Hat the room grew silent. Harry listened intently for what the sorting hat was going to sing.

Duty bound to split you up

Your friendships get decided

And yet again I warn you all

To not be too divided

For even then when I was made

The four had always seen

Differences are bane or boon

Depending where you lean

You split apart and Hogwarts

Will meet its bitter end

Or be as one together

And then next to her you'll stand

And so I shall as I was told

Put you where talents rise

The place where you will feel at home

So listen without sighs

There's Gryffindor the brave and true

Whose heir cannot be found

Or Ravenclaw the clever ones

Whose heir is twin and bound

Then Slytherin the tricky sort

Whose heir is hidden best

Last Hufflepuff the working type

Whose heir is like the rest

Now come up here and you will see

That this is not so scary

Just put me on and I will know

Where you will be most merry

That ends my song but I must warn

Remember what I've said

So now first years come up and sit

With me upon your head

This song got even less of a standing ovation than the previous one did. In fact everyone in the room seemed to respond to it the same way Harry did with curiosity and deep thought. Harry wasn't sure what to think of the parts mentioning the heirs and he could tell Hermione was shifting through her own mind looking for what it could mean. She would undoubtedly go to the library as soon as possible to research this. Harry felt a tug on his robes. Wesley raised an eye brow at him as if to ask 'what was that about?' He was about to answer when he heard Ms. McGonagall start the sorting.

"Angel, Leonard." Harry loosely listened to the first name.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat yelled out very quickly. The hufflepuff table clapped for him, but the exuberance of the previous sortings he had seen was gone. Apparently people were really getting that these were dark times.

"What was that about?" He heard Wesley whisper in his ear. "That was an odd song if I've ever heard one, and everyone's response was even weirder. Why all the long faces? Why would the hat tell you to stand together under the school's name? Shouldn't you all do that anyway?"

Harry wasn't sure how to explain it to him. After all how could one explain that the house rivalries weren't just silly childrens' games but that they actually meant something in the grander scheme of things?

"Well, the houses here at Hogwarts have a history of bickering amongst each other specifically Slytherin and the rest of them. Slytherin is filled with quite a few gits and they are known to be rough around the edges and tricky cheaters." Wesley looked over at the Slytherin table as 'Cecil, Elizabeth' was sorted into Gryffindor and his table stood up in applause.

"They don't look any worse than anyone else here does." Wesley whispered back.

"Trust me, they are." Harry responded. "But there is house rivalry in the other houses as well. It's just not as pronounced as the, what I would call all out war between Gryffindor and Slytherin. It seems almost second nature to be wary of them right now. I'd suggest you start being wary of them as well if you know what's good for you."

"I don't know, it seems likely that they feel the same way about you as you do about them if this rivalry is really that bad. Besides I find it hard to believe they are all bad. All the hat said about Slytherin when it talked was that they were tricky. And when I wore it I was considered for Slytherin because of 'thirst for acceptance' I believe it was." Harry looked strangely at Wesley and then looked at the Slytherin table and he realized something. He had only had contact with a small number of the Slytherins and he hadn't exactly gotten out on the right foot with the ones who he did interact with. Draco Malfoy was an extreme git. But weren't Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle okay once you got them away from him? Harry realized that he hadn't really given any of the Slytherins a chance he had just grouped them all in the same category as Malfoy.

"I really don't know what I think. I've just been on edge around all Slytherins since I was here although I have to admit that that is because most people are on edge around them. I suppose when I think about it that in of itself would stick a wedge where there otherwise wouldn't need to be one." Harry felt awful now. He looked over at Blaise again who was talking to the Bloody Baron and ignoring everything else. He also realized that not only was he still laughing animatedly but the Baron was as well. Harry had never seen the Baron laugh. Try as his mind might it couldn't twist those laughs into anything sinister or beyond what they were. Just laughs of general merriment. He would definitely have to work on his interhouse relationships, even if the whole rest of the bloody school thought all the Slytherin's were death eaters Harry was going to give them a chance. Harry had seen what the Death Eaters were capable of himself and it didn't seem to him that the majority of them were even remotely capable of those atrocities. But if they were forced to only hang out wit those who did? Harry wondered how many Death Eaters really joined because they wanted to or because they felt they had no other choice. Snape caught his eye and he remembered the memory he saw in Snape's Penseive. A sudden association happened in his mind. He remembered his father floating the fifteen year old Snape in the air and it placed itself in his mind right next too the memory of the death eaters from his fourth year levitating those muggles in the air and using them like puppets. No it was not just Slytherins that were like that, they were all capable of such things. Even he himself had tried to cast an unforgivable curse admittedly he still thought she deserved it because of what she had done. But that didn't change the fact that he had acted out of anger and almost landed himself in Azkaban because of it.

Harry felt a wave of angst as he remembered just as many examples of Gryffindors being sadistic gits towards Slytherins as they were to them even in his times at school. Wesley was looking at him curiously. He knew something was up, Harry was sure of that.

The sorting of the boy who McGonagall had led into the hall distracted Harry from his inner rant. The boy was walking up to the stool with what Harry knew was a muggle blind mans walking stick. Hermione caught Harry's eye and looked intrigued to say the least.

Harry tried to recall the name…Devon Witter that's what McGonagall had said. The boy looked rather normal, dark short hair average build. He poked his way up to the stool rather quickly considering, taking the hat that McGonagall handed to him. He then turned around at put it on his head. It was quite antidramatic as the Hat basically immediately yelled, "RAVENCLAW!" The only other person he had ever seen sorted that fast was Draco Malfoy.

The Ravenclaws yelling stopped, in fact the entire room got quiet as the boy headed off the stool towards the Gryffindor table. He was obviously blind now that Harry could see his face his eyes were a misty blue color that barely stood out over the white. Ms. McGonagall started towards the boy obviously thinking him lost. But he didn't seem lost to Harry he looked like he knew exactly where he was going.

The boy stopped in front of him then said, "Harry Potter, I know you can talk to snakes." Harry blushed and looked at Wesley who just raised an eyebrow at him curiously.

"You need to start trusting that and start trusting them. Snakes have a bad reputation but they are not evil." The boy then walked off to the Ravenclaw table and sat next to the other first years there. The entire hall was silent then staring at him even the Slytherins lost their snide faces and looked just as shocked at this remark as everyone else. Only Wesley seemed nonplussed by that remark, his curiosity just got even deeper.

After another minute or so of staring McGonagall sorted the last student 'Yeller, Eliza' who ended up in Slytherin before Dumbledore stood up. Unlike every other year everyone seemed shocked and so instead of saying quiet like he normally did, all it took was his standing to alert the people everyone to his presence.

"As usual I have some announcements to make. I would like to inform you that the Curfew for students who are out of their dorms will be strictly enforced, even if those students happen to be prefects." His eyes stopped on Harry, Ron and Hermione before continuing. "There will be a number of adults on Campus that you may not recognize. They are here at my request to protect you during these troubled times." He paused again at this statement.

"Also, there will be a temporary rule that all students are to be with at least two other students at all times when they are not in their dormitories or common rooms. Also Mr. Filch would like me to inform you that a large number of objects have been added to the list of things banned in the halls including everything from Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. For the full list of banned items go to Filches office." George surprised Harry by smiling at this. "He also wants me to remind you that there is to me no wand usage in the halls between classes. As always the dark forest is off limits to all students. It would do the first years good to remember this and of course a few of our older students as well." His eyes again went to the Gryffindor table where it stopped at George. _Hmm…it does seem that Gryffindors do the most rule breaking…_ Harry didn't know why he had just noticed that. It had been plainly obvious for his entire time here.

"And finally I would like to sow a bit of my own advice. Listen to the sorting hat. Do not let your rivalries deter you from your beliefs, and of course blither splotch bloof. Now that that has been said, tuck in." And with those words the tables filled with food and the room filled with anxious talking.

Harry noticed that Dumbledore had not introduced the new defense against the dark arts professor. He also had not introduced Wesley Tinderspoon or the strange young man in the blindfold if he wasn't the new defense professor. Harry wasn't sure what was up but his experience last year had taught him to be wary of everybody, even Dumbledore. The only people he truly trusted were Fred, George, Ron, Hermione and Neville. He trusted Ginny more then many of the other students but she was still a bit wary of her after all she did have a similar connection to Voldemort as he did considering that she had been possessed by him. That and Hermione, Ron and even Neville had been there since the beginning. They had always been a part of this.

Harry took another good look at Wesley now that his normal more wary state of mind had taken over. He seemed nice enough for an American and he certainly didn't seem the most untrustworthy of sorts but then again he barely knew the guy. He'd have to rectify that later after all they were going to be dorm mates.

The great hall was unusually silent during the feast after the sorting ceremony. People were talking but it wasn't loud boisterous chatter, not even at the Gryffindor table. It was mostly small groups of three or four people discussing whatever they were discussing. Harry couldn't make much out everyone seemed to not want to be overheard. The one notable exception to this was Blaise who had immediately continued his conversation with the Bloody Baron after Dumbledore was finished.

"Har…ry wha do you may ov da strange blind kid?" Ron barely managed to get his comment out through a mouth full of food. However what astonished Harry most was the fact that Hermione didn't scold him for it. It wasn't that she approved, it was more like she was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice that he had done it.

"I don't know. I have to admit that he does have a point. Other than the basilisk I have yet to meet a snake that ended up horrible in the end. The first one I ever talked to was actually quite nice." Harry absentmindedly responded to Ron's question. Wesley raised an eyebrow at the mention of a basilisk but didn't respond beyond that.

"Yeah but they are still snakes!" Seamus responded. It was incredibly old news that Harry was a parcel mouth everyone had found out about that, including Harry, his second year.

"What's wrong with snakes?" Wesley asked the group.

"What do you mean what's wrong with snakes?" Seamus responded again surprised like it should be obvious that all snakes are evil incarnate.

"Well, I have a pet snake and it isn't particularly dangerous or deadly. In fact it's quite useless really, other then being cute." Wesley then produced a quite small Gartner snake from his robes. Harry thought the reaction was a bit overly dramatic. Ron immediately stiffened as if the tiny snake was going to hurt him and Seamus almost jumped out of his seat. Neville looked a lot like Ron. Hermione and Dean on the other hand, being muggleborns and thus knowing that Gartner snakes are about the least dangerous of snakes you could ever wish to find started snickering. Wesley looked at the three with very bemused expressions. Harry on then other hand was much more interested in the snake which seemed to be talking to him.

_"Interesting place you've got here?"_ It said to him very softly. Harry wasn't sure whether to respond. He knew everyone knew he could talk to the snake but he wasn't sure how they would respond to him actually talking to one.

"Hey Harry you mentioned talking to snakes?" Harry was slightly taken aback at Wesley's comment. The last thing he needed was to get on the new dorms mate's bad side over something stupid like him being a parcel mouth. But he couldn't really deny it so he simply nodded.

"Cool, I wish I could do that…" He said longingly. All five of the other students as well as a few others around who had happened to overhear the conversation gaped at him.

"Why would you ever want to be able to talk to snakes?" Seamus asked.

"Because it would be yet another thing to talk to," Wesley said longingly. "I was always the odd man out in school and so I didn't really ever fit in. Being able to talk to anything would be preferable to nothing at all. And I have never met a snake I didn't like."

Harry was about to respond to this but professor Dumbledore stood up and told the prefects to take the students to their dorms. Hermione stood up immediately and waved bye before rounding up the Gryffindors and leading them off towards the dorms.

"Harry, Dean, Seamus, Neville, George…Wesley." Ron said the last name with disdain. "We are supposed to wait here. Dumbledore wants to talk with us about something." Ron scowled at Wesley suspiciously as he said this. Wesley shrunk under the much taller and bigger boys' gaze noticing Ron's obvious distaste for the first time. He moved slightly more towards Hermione which just seemed to make Ron more jealous.

"Well now, I see you all have met your new dorm mate this will make things much easier." Dumbledore stepped in before Harry had to do anything, something he was quite happy about. "I would still like to speak with you though, please follow me." Professor McGonagall walked up behind them and then the two professors led them to the headmaster's office.

"Skittles," the door opened as Dumbledore said the password. Although Harry was sure that he didn't need a password to open his own office. The seven of them followed the headmaster into his office where he motioned for them to sit down on two soft couches that seemed to be a new addition to the office since Harry had last been there. Harry also noticed that the office was a lot more barren than it had been in the past. He flushed as he remembered the likely reasons for the change. Harry had broken many if the things in his office the previous year. The picture frames were in the places they had always been and the desk seemed unchanged but most of the little knickknacks had been removed and Harry saw, replaced with different ones. Although these ones didn't look nearly as interesting as the ones he had broken the previous year.

Dumbledore got everyone's attention with a clap of his hands as Fred appeared into the room from the floo. "It is quite convenient that the majority of you have already met your new dorm mate." Dumbledore motioned towards Wesley who stood up. "This is Wesley Tinderspoon. He lived in New York in the United States until recently and do to unforeseen circumstances he has had to relocate his schooling here. To help with the transitioning as he would be joining a group of sixth year dorm mates who already knew each other and the fact that he would already stand out because of his accent and demeanor the other professors and I decided it would be most prudent to sort him during the summer so he could possibly get to know the people he would be sleeping with ahead of time and to avoid any effect having a much older person during the sorting ceremony might have on the first years. Not to mention the effect it would have on Wesley himself." Dumbledore smiled after that. "As you are all probably aware he was sorted into Gryffindor and so will be your dorm mates this year." He then motioned to Wesley who smiled sheepishly and sat down between Harry and Hermione again.

After Wesley's introduction Dumbledore turned his attentions to the Weasley twins. "Fred and George Weasley whom you all are quite aware of I am sure." Dumbledore's eyes seemed to twinkle a bit more as he said this, a mischievous gleam there that Harry had seen a few times before. "They weren't doing that well in their classes last year and so I agreed to let them return to the school," he then turned to the others in the room, "as sixth years. I would also like to note that they have a special reason for being particularly in your dorms. Because in these trying times we all need to be with people we can trust with our lives." At that Dumbledore looked over his glasses at everyone before saying. "That is all, professor McGonagall could you be so kind as to escort the sixth year Gryffindors back to their dormitories?"

"Of course, come along now. You know the way." McGonagall led the group back towards Gryffindor tower. Harry had noticed that no one had spoken during the introduction and Harry was sure that was because all the other sixth year Gryffindors were wondering the same thing he was. Why was Wesley sent here really, he found it hard to believe that anything that Dumbledore would describe as unforeseen circumstances would be anything as calm as he had put it. Harry was sure that it had something to do with the Order of the Phoenix as there was no student exchange and there was nothing else that would point to an American student being at Hogwarts at all especially not this secretively.

"Guardian Force," The portrait of the fat lady at the door of the Gryffindor dorms opened as McGonagall said that password. "You boys get some sleep now." She said in the very stern yet calm voice that only she seemed to be able to produce.

The common room was very bleak and for the most part empty it being rather late. A few seventh years were loafing around in the common room but for the most part it was rather empty. Harry was tired and wanted to be ready for his classes the next day. He was glad to see Wesley start talking with Ron, Seamus and Dean as he drifted off to sleep. _I hope he fits in. It will be nice to have someone else be the center of attention instead of me for once._ At that he smiled and drifted off to sleep.


	7. Unforeseen Faces: One Old, One New

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 7: Unforeseen Faces: One Old, One New

The room was a real mess the next morning as seven boys rushed to get ready at the last moment. They had all woken up with only ten minutes to get to breakfast, and of course their stuff wasn't unpacked yet. It was chaos utter chaos. Seamus and Dean had somehow managed to get their robes mixed up despite Dean being significantly taller than him. Fred and George had not been helpful in any way by continually suggesting that they had found some lost item that someone was looking for and then apologizing sarcastically when there was nothing there. Wesley was trying desperately to bring some order to what was going on but he kept getting shoved out of the way as the larger boys looked frantically for some such thing or another.

Harry himself had decided to wait patiently until the others were done and then get dressed afterward. He didn't really care if he was a few minutes late to breakfast, and if he missed the schedules he'd just ask Ms. McGonagall for it later, if Hermione didn't grab his, which was quite likely.

At some point during the frantic preparation Neville was shoved onto Harry's bed where it appeared that he had decided on a similar course of action. "I am not looking forward to potions." He said nervously to Harry as they watched Wesley get barreled over again trying to help Dean put on his robes by Seamus who was frantically searching for his wand which had disappeared in the mess of the morning.

"I don't know, I hope that there are others in the class besides us and the Slytherins though." Neville nodded as he handed Seamus his wand which had been shoved onto Harry's bed near where Neville was sitting.

"Well, Hermione is in the class right?" Neville looked like he was praying she was as he said this.

"I think so. She signed up for it at least." Harry caught a half pushed half flung Wesley as George rushed across the room obviously looking for something else that had been lost in the confusion. Wesley just moved off of Harry and sat next to him panting silently, obviously deciding to let the bigger boys finish and not get shoved anymore.

"I'm glad I wouldn't want us to be the only Gryffindors in the room. We would be eaten alive for sure not to mention that we would never keep enough points to get the house cup, ever." Harry laughed and nodded as Seamus and Dean left the room, finally ready for their classes.

"Ow…" Wesley finally spoke as he rubbed his neck and cracked a few joints. "Remind me not to get in that Irish boy…"

"Seamus." Neville supplied the name.

"Yeah, Seamus' way again I'm not sure I can take any more of that." Harry snickered and Wesley groaned again in obvious pain.

"You ok?" George asked again. "Sorry about that we can get rather rowdy when were late. You need to go to the medical wing?" He asked apologetically.

"Naw, I'm not really that hurt just achy that's all. I'm more worried about the fact that we don't have time to get clean, nor clean this up." Wesley looked at the now dump of a room.

"I think I can take care of the lack of a shower at least." Harry remembered the spell that Nymphadora Tonks had used to clean the bird cage, he figured it would work on anything else so he tried it. "Scourgify!" he said pointing his wand at himself. It was the oddest feeling he suddenly felt cleaner, but without the nice feeling of a shower to go with it. At least it was better then feeling dirty all day. After being sure that it had worked he then cleaned the others. "As for the room I have no idea how to clean this besides the long way."

"We can deal with that you guys get ready so that we can actually GET breakfast before class." Fred said and then he waved his wand and all the clothing and other things on the floor sprung up into a twister around the room. Depositing themselves folded around the dorm in various places. After that was over and Harry could see again he got out his trunk and got dressed making sure to keep his wand where he could see it. Wesley and Neville followed suite and since Fred and George had already gotten ready (they had gotten dressed during the earlier chaos) after they were done they all set off to breakfast, somehow managing to get there before the feast had started.

Hermione called the five of them over to her, motioning Wesley specifically to sit next to her. Ron stiffened again but said nothing as he sat next Harry opposite Dean and Seamus. Fred and George took places next to Ron and Hermione, surrounding the four students.

Almost immediately after they sat down Professor McGonagall walked by them and handed them their schedules. "I do hope you intend to get to your classes on time. If you two are ever late to potions I will never hear the end of it." She said seriously but with a small smile. Neville blushed at this and then looked at his schedule. Harry then did as well.

The NEWT schedule was completely different from the OWL one. The day was split into 4 two hour periods. Two before and two after lunch, with fifteen minute passing periods between them. _Were gonna have to rush to get to class on time._ Harry thought miserably. He also noticed that every so often there was a study period to be spent in either the dorms or the library. They seemed to coincide with times that were not being used for classes and also seemed individual to the person in question.

"Care of magical creatures first." Ron said, obviously a bit wary. After all Hagrid was known for his eccentricities as far as monsters go. And considering that this is a NEWT class, he would have to expect anything.

"Did either of you notice that our Care of magical creatures class is meeting by the quidditch field rather than at Hagrid's hut?" Hermione's asked.

Harry looked at the location, "You're right, I wonder why?" He asked no one in particular.

"Who knows?" Ron said shrugging nonchalantly.

"You have care of magical creatures too?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, I wonder about it though. Isn't there a big field by the quidditch patch? That doesn't bode well for that class especially with Hagrid's past track record. Bigger field means more space."

"Which means bigger beast." Hermione, Harry and Ron shivered alongside Dean as he finished Harry's thought.

"As long as it's not another spider I'll be fine." Ron shivered even more as he said that.

At that point everyone started getting up to go to their first classes. Wesley, Neville and Seamus, who apparently had study periods together first waved at the others before they walked off towards the dorms and Harry, Dean, Hermione, and Ron headed off towards the quidditch pitch followed by Fred and George who seemed quite happy to chat between themselves and mostly ignore their younger protégés.

They ran into Justin Finch-Fletchley and Susan Bones on the way there as well as Ernie McMillan, whom he was surprised to see. Justin told them he continued with the class to learn more about how to defend himself against the more dangerous creatures out there, "such as basilisks." He had stated, Harry nodded knowingly remembering his second year vividly. Harry thought this was a good idea after all, Justin was a muggleborn. Ernie and Susan had taken it because Justin had, standing along side him. That and they needed another class anyway and they had to admit that the OWL had been fairly easy.

As the pitch came into view they did not see any sign of a large man or any very dangerous large animals. Something all of them were looking for. However what caught Harry's eye, was a large group of students of various sizes staring at a red topped blur whizzing around the pitch.

Harry noticed a bunch of Slytherins there too as he got closer. _Why would Malfoy take this class? He hates Hagrid…_ He also noticed Blaise Zabini and Millicent Bustrode. _Well, maybe Blaise isn't that bad…_ He thought knowing full well that even just Malfoy and Millicent were going to be a pain. Zacharias Smith and Padma Patil were also in the class adding one Ravenclaw and making it have people from every house.

No one noticed them walk up as everyone was busy watching the incredibly fast flyer above the pitch. Harry was impressed, even with his seeker eyes he could barely make out anything but red hair.

The blur quickly set down near a group of Slytherin and Hufflepuff first years who were watching in awe. Off the broom steeped none other than Charlie Weasley.

"Charlie?" Ron whispered behind him obviously more to himself than anyone else. Fred and George smiled but remained uncharacteristically silent.

"Thank you for the kind demonstration Mr. Weasley." Madam Hooch said as the group of older students walked across the pitch to see what was going on.

"That's professor Weasley now." Charlie said giddily.

"Of course how silly of me, well I need to get to my class and it looks like the remainder of yours is here now." Madam Hooch smiled at him as she said this. Harry guessed that Charlie was one of her best students, after all he was a seeker and she was the quidditch coach as well as the flying instructor.

At that Charlie walked over to where the sixth year students were standing. "I hope you're not too disappointed at the change of instructors. Hagrid is a great grounds keeper but he tends to get carried away. And he will be leaving the school at various times over the semester. Because of this, Professor Dumbledore wanted the NEWT level classes to have a more constant instructor rather than constantly switching so he hired me."

There was an almost universal sigh of relief from the group. In fact it seemed that Draco Malfoy was the only one in the group who seemed annoyed even angry at the change. "How did YOU get to be an instructor here?" He said incredulously.

Charlie's features suddenly changed into an unhappy glare that would have been intimidating even if he didn't have his built up frame. Draco immediately shut up at this, but not fast enough. "Well, frankly I would think that you of all people would be HAPPY about this change given your track record with Hagrid and his beasts." Harry remembered Buckbeak and what had happened to him. "Oh and don't think that that trick of yours will work on me. I know how you think remember and I will not let you think you can walk all over me just because of your family. I will remind you that your father is no longer here to bail you out." Draco visibly shivered at this but kept his angry scowl. "If you make another silly error do to not paying attention I may not be able to bail you out, so pay attention and don't do anything stupid or I will have you out of my class and out of this school before you can blink an eye. Oh and lose a point from Slytherin for the outburst towards a teacher. Everyone follow me." After that he got back a slightly happier demeanor however it was obvious he was still very much annoyed as he walked everyone to the field behind the pitch.

The field itself was rather empty except for one white winged figure on four legs in the center of it. As they got closer Harry could see that it was a winged horse. But not a skeletal horse with skin covered bat like wings like a thestral. This was a beautiful white horse with large feathered wings. Also its whinnies were more like a horse's except much more composed and fluid. Almost like it was singing. Harry knew what this was from his muggle schooling on Greek mythology. It was a pegasus.

"As this is the first class I was decided to start us off with something less dangerous. Does anybody know what this is?" Unsurprisingly, Hermione raised her hand. Harry raised his had too as did Dean and Justin. Apparently pegasi were not that known in the Wizarding world as they were in the muggle one.

"Harry? What do you know about it?" Hermione still had her hand in the air, but it looked like Charlie was purposely avoiding calling her. Everyone knew she knew the answer.

"That is a pegasus." Harry said.

"Yes you are correct. Can you tell me anything else about pegasi?"

"Not really, other than the fact that a Greek hero named Perseus rode one." Harry hadn't learned about this in a very long time and it wasn't really his favorite subject at least when he was younger.

"Okay, well anyone else?" Dean and Justin raised their hands again and of course Hermione had never put her hand down. "Justin?"

"It was born from the blood of Medusa at least in Greek myth." He said.

"Very good, yes it was. Now you have started to touch on more practical knowledge of pegasi, such as why they are so rare. Anyone care to comment on this?" Dean didn't put his hand up again. With no one else responding Charlie turned and finally called on a very anxious Hermione.

"Pegasi may have been born from Medusa originally as they are born from pools of venomous blood left behind by monstrous snakes that are left standing for a period of at least twenty four hours, but more commonly after a few months. This makes them incredibly rare. They have many useful things about them including being very nice to most people but able to protect themselves and their allies with great ferocity when they need to. They also are immune to most natural venoms and their blood acts as an anti-venom against many venoms including all known snake venoms."

Charlie smiled as she finished. He then looked at Harry and in a more gruff voice that sounded a lot more like the Charlie he remembered and not this studious instructor that seemed quite out of place to him. "This Pegasus was born form the Basilisk in the chamber of secrets that Harry Potter killed."

Everyone stared at Harry at that. Harry was embarrassed to say the least. But it was true he had slain it and almost died in the process.

"Now everyone can pet and touch the Pegasus they are very social creatures who rather like contact with anything. They are very slow to anger but an angry Pegasus is more dangerous than any stallion you'll find so I wouldn't recommend teasing it." Charlie seemed to have gotten his happy Dracoless gleam back. He was obviously in his element. He loved magical creatures.

The rest of the class consisted of flying around with the Pegasus and some old school brooms from the quidditch supplies. "Sorry I forgot to put that anyone with a broomstick would probably want to bring them as quite a few of our lessons will be using them." This comment had made Harry frown, he hadn't gotten his broom back after Umbridge had taken it and as time went on it became less and less likely to him that he would ever get it back.

Everyone who wanted got a chance to ride the Pegasus which seemed to like Harry, Dean and Ron the best out of all of the students there. Although that wasn't much as it seemed to like everyone even Malfoy. Even Hermione rode it after much pushing from him and Ron. The Pegasus was much more fluid and graceful then the thestrals or Buckbeak were. It was almost like riding a living broomstick that swayed a bit more.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Dean talked about this on their way back to the school after class when they heard a voice they all didn't expect from behind them.

"Interesting class wasn't it?" Blaise Zabini had walked up to them happily. Ron was obviously not happy about this and the scene seemed to freeze as everyone was put to awkward silence at any lack of response to Blaise's question.

"I liked it the Pegasus was a nice change." Harry lived up to his thought on giving the Slytherins another chance. Ron and Dean didn't look too happy. Hermione had continued walking towards her next class, disappearing into the castle grumbling about boys.

Blaise was about to respond when they Ron spoke up. "I have no idea what you're up to Zabini but I suggest you go back to your death eater friends before you get hurt." Blaise cringed a little at Ron's comment but didn't move off towards the other Slytherins that were quickly approaching.

"I suggest we all stick to our own." Dean said, Harry noted that it was not just to Blaise he had looked to Harry as well. This made Harry a bit nervous. All his little more Slytherin idiosyncrasies stood out to him greatly.

"You know Thomas, not ALL of us Slytherins hate your guts." Blaise said a bit more uptight then before. "I was more afraid of Malfoy and what might happen to me if I ever talked to anyone out of house." While what Blaise was saying made perfect sense, Dean and Ron didn't seem to by it. Harry didn't see this going anywhere good especially considering that he and Ron at least had a free period after this meaning this could easily escalate with no previous requirements to make it stop. And right then as if he could feel the heat in the air between them, Malfoy decided to step in and as usual make things worse.

"Hey Zabini, what are you doing over there talking with the Mudbloods and Mudblood lovers? Trying to get on their good graces? After all you could probably get a very good grade from the bigger Weasel if you were friends with them. Good thinking, maybe I'll try that sometime if my marks slip." At that he walked off laughing. That was the last straw, Ron lashed out, not towards Malfoy as Harry had expected but towards Blaise. Harry found himself moving to help Blaise for some unexplained reason. The scene seemed top play out in slow motion as the Ron's fist connected with his face instead of Blaise chest, Harry could barely think do to the pain and shock, more so at what he had just done then what Ron had before he passed out.

The next thing Harry knew he was sitting in the hospital wing with a very concerned Charlie Weasley looking at him he noticed that neither Ron, Dean nor Blaise were there. _Why did I notice that Blaise isn't here?_ He thought to himself oddly. He wouldn't have expected the Slytherin to be there, at least he thought he wouldn't.

"What happened?" Charlie said in a very stern tone. "All I know is that I heard a shout from a student about a fight near the quidditch pitch and me and Madam Hooch ran up and then found you and Mr. Zabini on the ground, you unconscious and Ron looking entirely shocked at his own clenched fist." Harry normally wouldn't tell teacher about something like this. But he was finding it incredibly difficult to think of Charlie as a teacher and not a Weasley and the fact remained that we had never really had any trouble telling the Weasley kids about anything, except Percy of course but he was the odd man out in the family.

"Well, Ron, Dean, Hermione and I were walking back towards the Castle after class talking when Blaise walked up." _He's Blaise to me now and not Zabini? When did this happen?_ "He asked us how we thought that class was, so I answered." Harry found that while his face felt fine normally that talking made his jaw ache. "Well, Ron and Dean weren't too happy about this after all he is a Slytherin, and they both told him to leave. Long story short Malfoy walked up, called Dean and me mudbloods and Ron a mudblood lover and insinuated that Blaise was only trying to get on our good side to get better marks from you. Then Ron lost control I guess I don't really know what cause that but he tried to punch Blaise and for some reason, I don't understand at all I jumped between them." Harry then just realized that he had not only told someone about something that he would have previously kept to himself but that he had told a teacher about it.

"Hmm…" Charlie said, looking rather thoughtful but still a bit annoyed. "I am going to have to have a talk with Ron and Dumbledore about this. This is a serious thing, it's lucky you stepped in and there isn't a Slytherin in here. Otherwise we would have to get Snape involved and that would most certainly get Ron's prefect badge removed." He then thought more. "Not that McGonagall is going to be much better. Thank you Harry."

Harry sat up and quickly winced through saying, "You won't tell Ron I told you this right?" Harry was sure that he wasn't going to be the best liked person around the Gryffindor dorms at the moment if his past experience meant anything. Probably not around anyone actually, the last thing he needed was his best friend getting any madder than he already was.

"I won't. Although you should know that after he hit you, Ron was so distraught that he ran off towards the dorm in obviously guilt. He didn't seem mad at you or anything if anything he was mad at himself. I don't know about Dean but he waked off after Ron, looking quite blank faced. You may find this disconcerting. But it was in fact Blaise who picked you up and carried you here before going to his common room for his study period. He didn't even flinch or wait for me to ask him to do so or anything. He just picked you up and asked if I thought he should. On the topic of who will know about this conversation I will have to tell the headmaster and professor McGonagall the whole truth though."

Harry has expected this and so it didn't bother him that much. If Harry knew anything about Albus Dumbledore it was that he could keep secrets. Ms McGonagall was a trickster at heart, and he couldn't get out of it anyway so it didn't really matter in the end.

Harry noticed that it had been about almost two hours and so he was almost supposed to go to lunch. He was not looking forward to it. He was sure that the confrontation between Ron and Blaise had gotten around school by now and he had no idea how they were going to react. No, he had a good idea but it wasn't anything he was looking forward too.

Harry then realized that the Weasley twins were nowhere to be found. He doubted that they could have done anything about what had happened as he didn't even expect that. But he wondered what they were doing.

Harry was joined by Remus Lupin as he left the medical Wing, something that did not surprise him in the least bit. "Substitute bodyguard?" He asked Lupin with a smirk.

"Pretty much," was his only response. They walked the rest of the way to the great hall in silence Harry lost in thought and worrying about what was going to happen when he got there.

What he got was not exactly what he expected but he wasn't sure if it was good or bad. No one was staring at him, but that was because everyone was staring at Ron who was, apparently apologizing to Blaise who was smiling again.

Harry tried to go to sit by Hermione without making a big racket but of course that was impossible. "Harry! I am sorry I'm sorry I'm so stupid! Are you ok?" Ron made everyone in the room look at him when he said this.

"I'm fine." Harry said, even though it still ached to speak. He then sat down wanting to avoid too much staring at the moment. He knew this was impossible considering but at least he would be less noticeable around his taller housemates. He took a seat next to Wesley who apparently had become a permanent resident next to Hermione for some reason.

"Hey Harry you ok?" Blaise asked from right behind him earning more stares then even when he and Ron were talking. "I realize that that punch was meant for me and I wanted to thank you… Well thank you with you awake anyway." He then smiled that new un-old Blaise like smile.

"I'm fine and you're welcome I suppose." Blaise seemed happy at this and walked back towards his own table where he took his new seat next to the Bloody Baron who waved at Harry happily. An action which more so chilled him than anything else.

"So it's true then? That Ron tried to punch Blaise and you got in between them?" Hermione's voice rang out from his right as Ron sat down next to him. It was completely silent like the whole room was listening for the answer.

"Yeah it's true…" He mumbled to himself. There were immediately too many voices at one time to make sense of it all.

"Ron! I can't believe a prefect!" "Why would you protect a Slytherin?" "Why in the world?" "He must have started it right?" "This is stupid why is everyone…" "Nothing could be worse right now for Gryffindor." "Look at Snape he is probably pissed."

Harry felt himself being pulled up from his right and taken out of the room. "Harry, are you ok?" Wesley's voice asked simply once they were out in the hallway.

"No I'm not!" Harry surprised himself with this outburst and Wesley visibly shrunk from him as Harry had seen him do before when there was such an outburst directed his way. But he didn't budge beyond that. Harry suddenly felt guilty Wesley had after all just tried to help. "I'm sorry, I'm just tired of every little thing I do being watched and commented on like I'm some hero or villain and not just a simple student."

"I know that's why I pulled you out of there. Because I do know what it's like. Maybe not for the same reasons, but I understand what it's like to be the center of attention like that and you were just looking angry and were just holding it in so I figured..." He trailed off at those last words and looked at Harry again.

"Thank you. You know I normally would have lashed out at you for even thinking you could know what I feel. But for some reason I just trust you. I don't know why."

Wesley frowned a bit at that and then looked at his watch. "Oh we need to get to our next classes now!" And then just like that he was gone. All that was left was the sounds of his fast paced footsteps on the castle floor.

"Harry are you ok?" Ron's voice echoed Wesley's from earlier almost perfectly and he remembered why he loved his friends so much. Even his new one, they actually cared about him as a person beyond being the Boy Who Lived.

"Yeah we heard the conversation with Wesley, he seems rather nice." Hermione's voice followed Ron's form behind him.

"Yeah, he is." Harry had come to that conclusion a log time before that however. "But we need to get to our Psionics class now."

"Oh right, that stupid class that we were put in by Dumbledore. I hope there isn't too much homework in this class I am going to be swamped already with my prefect duties and NEWTs work." Ron sighed and started towards the room where their next class was.

"Oh honestly it is not that much work!" Hermione was adamant as usual about Harry and Ron's questionable study habits but Harry was not in the mood to listen. Some thing about Wesley's response to their conversation bothered him. When it ended he seemed more uncomfortable then Harry did, Harry could see no viable reason why, after all he hadn't really said anything that he thought would do that to anyone.

He pondered why and came to the same lack of a conclusion all the way to the psionics classroom, a small room relatively near Gryffindor tower. The room itself was rather different than any classroom he had ever been in muggle or wizarding. It was about half the size of the other class rooms at Hogwarts and there were no desks or even chairs. Instead there were little pillows of various colors laid out on the floor in a similar manner to how the desks in a classroom might be laid out. The walls were quite filled with plaques and rugs and a rather nice tapestry depicting what looked like the four founders of the school looking down on a miniature version of their creation.

The room was nothing compared to its single inhabitant besides the small group of students that were gathered at the door. Hovering, for lack of a better description about a half meter off the ground was the young blindfolded man Harry had seen talking with Snape. Now that he got a closer look at him he noticed more of his features. The man looked like he would be pretty tall if he were standing upright. He had very jet black hair that seemed to shine much like Severus Snape's hair but without the greasy look to it. It was also a lot shorter than most of the other professors hair, the longest part being his bangs which hung over the blindfold he was wearing. He was wearing a muggle wife beater and very short denim shorts. He did not stir from his position so Harry walked into the room and chose a red pillow and sat down. Hermione took a blue pillow next to him and Ron took the single Black one next to her. Harry then noticed that there were only ten pillows in the room, four red pillows, three blue pillows, a black pillow and two yellow ones. It did occur to him that they were the house colors and that they were arranged in such a way that none of them were adjacent to any of the other ones. They were also arranged so that there were two rows of five pillows. _This is likely going to be a small class then._ Harry thought.

Harry Ron and Hermione were the first people in and the young man who Harry could hardly believe was a NEWTs professor but was the only person in the room appeared to be meditating. Harry turned towards the door and waited. He remembered that Seamus was in this class but wasn't sure of anything else. It was then that he noticed Fred and George standing on the corners looking around the room like it was the strangest thing they had ever seen. When Fred caught Harry looking, he mouthed _Now isn't this odd?_ Then winked at him, Harry nodded in response.

A minute or so later Justin Finch-Fletchley and Ernie Macmillan walked into the room where they walked up to the three Gryffindors and said "hi" then predictably commented on how odd the room looked. Not far behind them came Seamus who took a pillow next to Hermione, then Padma Patil and Terry Boot and Michael Corner who Harry recognized as sixth year but did not really know at all. That was nine out of ten and Harry wondered who the one black pillow was for. He had already figured out that these pillows were likely a seating arrangement. He was glad there was only one Slytherin if there had to be any at all. He wasn't too happy that there was a red pillow to its left though. He or Hermione would have to be on that pillow if the class was to remain sane.

Not far after the Ravenclaws entered the room a lone person in a Slytherin robe entered the room. It was Blaise Zabini. Harry let out an audible sigh of relief. For once he wouldn't have to worry about the Slytherin's in a class. Blaise understandably walked over and sat by himself on the last corner pillow between Michael and Terry who didn't seem at all happy that he was there.

As soon as Blaise sat down the man stood up, he walked towards the front of the class and then seemed to concentrate on something for a second before saying. "Hello, I am your psionics instructor Leon Saren, while I know you are technically supposed to call me 'Professor Saren' I prefer a much more casual environment in a classroom especially a classroom where people are working with each others minds. For that reason you all must get to know each other as if you were dorm mates, siblings or possibly closer and thus I would prefer you call me Leon when we are not in the presence of other faculty. For this reason I have assigned seats, at least until your houses no longer matter. You will not be sitting next to anyone in your own house for the first few weeks of class. After that we will likely not be having lectures and so it is unlikely that seating will matter as much." There was a lot of grumbling at this and people were glancing at Blaise furtively.

Professor Saren walked back towards the tapestry behind at the back of the room. "Look at this tapestry. I left it there for a reason." He then turned his head towards the confused students. He was wearing a blindfold wasn't he? How could he see? He seemed to have expected this line of thought so he continued with. "I remember this from my years here because it was the thing that I saw the clearest immediately before the accident that blinded me." The silence in the room became palpable at that comment. "Oh come now, it's not that bad and me being blind is not the point. The point is that it was never intended for the houses to be at odds with each other as they are today. Look at this depiction of the four founders looking down at their creation. This is what the sorting hat was talking about this is what we must foster in this room in order to effectively take this class."

The response to his statements was quite surprising to Harry. Ernie Macmillan grunted and said. "Maybe three of them meant it that way but Salazar Slytherin didn't!" He said angrily.

Leon simply turned to face the class and then said calmly, "And how would you know that? True he spoke parcel tongue. But other than that we cannot really know what the man was thinking other that that he seemed to value wizarding blood. But even that is not the main thing that concerns the house. I was in Slytherin when I went here, and I am half-blood at best."

Ernie wasn't beaten yet. "Of course a Slytherin would say that. But you weren't here our second year when the BASILISK that came from Slytherin's chamber was petrifying people including two of my friends who are in this room!" At that he put his hand on Justin's shoulder who was visibly shaken. He then looked over at Hermione, which slightly surprised Harry before continuing. "You would probably want that to happen I didn't see any of the Slytherin's looking for it they were all fine because they are all blooded!" Ernie was getting really angry now. Professor Saren still seemed unaffected by his outburst.

"I may not have been here for that but I did hear about it. And I did not really enjoy being in Slytherin I thought it was a horrible place. No one trusted me for essentially no reason, including my own housemates and we were expected to cheat lie and battle for power. While this is the traits that Slytherin is known for, it was troublesome that everyone seemed to think, and continues to still think apparently that these are the only things that make up the people in Slytherin. I wonder which of you did the hat consider for Slytherin before it put you in your current houses?" Harry shivered slightly at this as did Ernie, and Ron, neither which honestly surprised him.

The professor then smiled before saying. "But that's exactly what I am trying to get at. Your houses are chosen for you based on your traits and I am not convinced that the hat is correct when it says that it has never made a mistake. Who you are should not be defined by an arbitrary position. And in this class it won't be. However arbitrary repositioning is required to undue the arbitrary conditioning you all have received because of the previous house rivalries. For that reason you do not have houses in this class. If you lose house points you all lose them. So now I assume you all can see the colored pillows that I have arranged on the floor. Pick one whose color matches your current house. And that is pretty much the end of my lesson for the day. Talk to those people next to you, get to know them. Get to know me, if you want to ask me something ask me I'm not shy."

He then sat cross legged on the floor again before smiling and finishing with. "Oh and I know I am not wearing standard attire for school. I am wearing what I find comfortable because just as house rivalries cannot exist in a class like this we do not have the luxury of formalities either. You will all have to be as comfortable as possible or you will never succeed. For that reason I will start class twenty minutes after the normal starting time so that people can go to their dorms and change into more casual clothing and of course end it early as well. Of course I will start when everyone gets here if it is before the announced time. Which I suspect you will all want to do. The magic of the mind is fascinating and once you all get away from your houses and get to know each other as people you will be happy to have a place where the only thing that matters is the subject and each other. I know I would have been. In any case go ahead. Sit where you are supposed to and chat."

Blaise went to sit on the only black pillow (something Harry thought was quite unfair) and of course everybody scrambled to take the seats that were not next to him except Harry who as he had planned before stood up and walked directly to the red pillow adjacent to the black one where a very indignant but slightly hurt Blaise sat. Harry watched the others and in the end it ended up being Ernie from Hufflepuff (Justin was still spooked by his memory of the Basilisk) and Padma from Ravenclaw, "Whatever it's not like were being asked to marry him or anything!" She had said after Terry and Michael had looked at the seat in horror. Ron, Hermione and Seamus chose pretty much random seats and started chatting with whoever was next to them. Harry was more interested in sitting there looking over the room and watching everyone else, especially professor Saren, but Blaise and Ernie had other ideas.

"Don't you dare try anything on any of us Zabini! I'll be watching you!" Ernie's voice was stern, protective of the other people in the class most of which were his friends and all of which were members of the DA.

"Ernie I have no intention of doing any such thing." Blaise responded quite calmly Harry thought considering the current conversation. Ernie seemed surprised about something, probably Blaise using his first name.

"I'll still be watching you." Ernie responded evenly.

"What is with you guys! You act as if having a Slytherin in this class is the end of the world or something!" Padma seemed shocked at such a thought.

"Well it is a magic of the mind class and I don't want some stinking Slytherin getting all of my most precious thoughts!" Ernie was adamant. And although Harry thought it was a bit silly to think that Blaise wanted to do that to anyone he did have a point.

"I'm curious what made you guys take this class?" Harry asked the four of them.

Blaise responded first. "I learned some meditation techniques this summer and learned a lot about mental and other forms of wandless magic. So when I was this class I couldn't not take it. It was a formal school run class about what I had been dabbling into and finding fascinating all summer. That and to learn Occlumency because I know for a fact that some of the more dangerous and nosy Slytherins are studying Legillimency in their spare time. I suspect that the reason they are not in this class is because they don't want people to know about it also because they don't want someone to accidentally take any of their secrets."

Ernie responded next immediately almost challenging Blaise' statement, although Harry thought this was pointless as nothing seemed confrontational in what Blaise said. "I am taking the class because I want to learn as much magic as I can. That and I did figure that it would be a good thing to learn about protecting my mind with he who must not be named around. And others like him." Ernie stared Blaise in the eyes obviously challenging him to respond.

"I for one simply wanted to widen my horizons. After all what would be the point in not taking such a class if it was available. Apparently not many others agreed. I was honestly expecting a bigger class." Padma's words seemed quite reasonable if not Hermione like. Although she was a Ravenclaw so that wasn't exactly the most unexpected thing.

The three looked at Harry who should have expected them to want to know why he had joined the class. He mentally hit himself for bringing it up. He had to very quickly think of a lie to avoid blowing the cover of his occlumency lessons with Snape and his perilous connection to Voldemort. "It just seemed like an interesting class that went along with my plans to become an Auror." He thought that was pretty lame actually. Since this class had nothing to do with being an Auror and from the looks from his friends they weren't buying it either. But none of them said anything.

"So what did you guys do this summer?" Blaise asked the four of them curiously.

Padma responded first, "Studied for the most part. It was dreadfully boring to tell you the truth but I have to get good marks on my NEWTs to become anything important in the magical world. That and since I wasn't first in my class." She glared at Hermione as she said this. "I have to make sure that I work extra hard to make sure I get that honor next time." It was all Harry could do to stop himself from laughing. Of course the Ravenclaws would have a rivalry with Hermione. After all she was a Gryffindor who often did better than they did on everything academic related.

"That sounds rather dull." Ernie said with a sigh. "Not that I did anything that spectacular either. Mainly I just hung out and practiced curse dodging with a tennis ball. Me and Justin did hang out a few times too but it was again nothing special. What about you Harry what did you do." It was obvious to Harry that he had deliberately avoided asking Blaise.

"I had one of the oddest summers I have had in a long time. The first half of it was spent wasting time being lazy in my room. However at the end of July I got a nasty surprise. Professor Snape delivered none other than Malfoy, Gre…Goyle and Vin…Crabbe to my doorstep. I ended up hanging out with them and Hermione while brewing a potion for Snape all summer. He said that if I successfully brewed it I could get into NEWTs Potions without an O on my OWL." Harry felt odd telling them all of that. He didn't really know why until he realized that he had never told anyone but Ron and Hermione that much about anything before. He was beginning to trust a lot more something that honestly scared him a bit.

"Ouch, having to brew a potion and hang out with Malfoy… wait did you almost call his cronies by their first names?" Ernie looked at him oddly. Harry wasn't sure what to say to that so he figured the truth would yet again suffice. He would have to figure out why he was being so honest all of a sudden. It seemed rather odd to him.

"Well I got to chatting with them over the summer and they were actually not nearly as bad as I thought they would be. If you get them away from Malfoy other than being a bit blunt they are actually not that bad." Ernie looked a bit taken aback at the comment and Padma looked intrigued.

"Yeah I would have to agree. Draco's a git. But Vince and Greg aren't that bad when they aren't following him. Goodness knows I wouldn't have survived five years dorming with the three of them if that weren't the case." Blaise started with a half grin on his face. "Now on my summer I actually had an interesting summer I went abroad to find my roots. I found out that one of my ancestors brought back an Indian witch from the Americas and that she, not his wife is my great great grandmother. My great great grandmother, sell step great great grandmother I suppose apparently couldn't have children for some medical reason and so was not against taking care of the wayward child. After all he was still of wizarding blood even if it wasn't all European." Ernie's eyes narrowed at Blaise's nonchalant comment.

"More important than that was the fact that it meant that I had an entire legacy that I knew nothing about. So I did some research over the time I was at Hogwarts and eventually found out what tribe she had been from. Over the summer I went to visit the tribe and learned quite a bit about my heritage and a very different way of viewing and doing magic. Did you know that many American Wizards and Witches don't even use wands nor even call themselves those things? I didn't until I met some of them. There are Shamans and Mages and all sorts of other neat things. I even learned a bit about wandless magic although I admit it was rather odd. Like one charm they were doing, at least it seemed more like a charm than anything else, required all of them to sit in a circle and then smoke out of this tobacco pipe while chanting to the spirits. I tried to do this once but I coughed when I took the pipe and so they all laughed and told me they thought I should sit it out if I couldn't handle the pipe. My lungs agreed." Harry had never seen Blaise this talkative before apparently this summer of his has had a greater effect on him than anyone could have guessed. Ernie seemed a bit less wary of the Slytherin and Padma seemed simply intrigued. Harry was about to ask about that when the class ended.

He was going to ask anyway on his way out but Professor Saren called out to him saying "I need to talk with you privately after class." So Harry waved bye to the rest of them. Ernie and Justin walked off towards their common room and Padma surprisingly walked off with Blaise towards the library. Terry and Michael walked towards their common rooms but not before suspiciously watching Padma walk off with Blaise. Harry noticed that Ron, Hermione and Seamus were waiting with him and showed no inclination to leave. In fact they all seemed rather odded out. Harry noticed something too. No one had asked why he was being told to stay. He found it odd as generally being nosy was something Hogwarts students were masters off, especially Ernie Macmillan.

After everyone had left besides them, Professor Saren wasted no time talking to the four very confused Gryffindors. "You are all probably wondering why I called to you four specifically. You also may be wondering how I called for each of you individually without calling anybody else." Hermione even looked intrigued at this thought. Seamus and Ron looked quite stumped. Harry had an idea what he had done after all he WAS a psionics instructor.

"Well, this was an example of some of the more interesting and useful applications of the class, purely mental communication however that was not why I asked you four to stay. I used that trick simply because professor Dumbledore wanted this to be fairly discreet. While I doubt people won't notice you all staying later than everyone else I am sure you can come up with some excuse on your own that will suffice that has nothing to do with me." He smiled and looked (how else could pointing your face directly at someone be described?) directly at Hermione as he said this.

"Now for the important bit, I have been asked by professor Dumbledore to instruct Harry, Ron and Hermione specifically as well as any other sixth year Gryffindors that ended up in my class in occlumency." This peaked Harry's attention. Learning occlumency from an instructor other than Snape would be preferable. And it was obvious that this man was a real specialist in the magics of the mind rather than someone with simply a knack for it.

Hermione and Ron did not look surprised Seamus on the other hand looked completely lost. "What is occlumency and why should we specifically learn it over everyone else?" He asked

"Occlumency is the magic of defending the mind from outside invasion. It allows one to resist the effects of Obliviate, Legillimency and once one is powerful enough it can even throw off Imperius. The reasons for learning it are fairly obvious. Harry here as well as his closest friends are now direct enemies of Voldemort." Seamus' eyes grew wide at the uttered name and Ron still shivered slightly but was otherwise unaffected. "Because Voldemort is a skilled mental wizard occlumency is a must for them. Because you are in a psionics class with them and thus could through any number of things be privy to information that would be of use to him and of course because being as close to them as you are being their dorm mate makes you a prime target for information." Seamus shivered but made no further inquery. It was quite obvious once Harry thought about it. He thought about Dean and Neville… they should be learning this too.

"The others in the class with us will be learning it as the year goes on you I expect will be practicing your spells with each other and will be more privy to the information faster and with less adult supervision around. And so you all get it extra in addition to the actual class. Another thing, while you are all required to be here in the extra classes as long as you stay in psionics." Seamus looked kind of annoyed at this statement but didn't say anything. "Your dorm mates, all of them, are welcome to come to the lessons as well. This is my doing as I believe that that would be prudent even for those not taking my class. Only your dorm mates however, this should still be rather hush hush as to not raise too much suspicion."

He then turned to Seamus and looked at him apologetically. "Seamus, I am sorry to have to do this to you but it really is for your safety as well as the safety of your mates here. They are required to take the class and to take this class do to their outstanding circumstances. You on the other hand are not required to take this however you are required to take it at the order and request of the headmaster as long as you continue the psionics NEWT. I will give you some more information before making you decide. And again I greatly apologize for putting you in this situation to begin with."

He then turned to all four of them again. "In class you will be using Penseives to hide your deepest thoughts. In this more specialized class you will not. And so you all must be willing to share with each other and with anyone else you bring in to these private lessons any and all of your thoughts as it is likely that they could get access to anyone of them. They must also be equally willing to let you see theirs. The reason for this is that if or when Voldemort or any other legillimencer wanted to take your thought you will not likely have a penseive conveniently with you to store them especially in the time that the fairly quick legillimens charm takes to cast. For this reason you must all practice hiding you're most secret memories which is why it is important that you all trust each other explicitly. Also anyone who tells anyone anything that is found out in this room without express consent from its owner will be expelled. This rule is not even courtesy of myself. It is directly from professor Dumbledore."

He turned to Seamus again who looked positively spooked. "As you can see it is obvious that these three trust each other enough to do this. The question is… are you willing to put yourself on the line? I can get you into another NEWT if you so choose…"

"I'll honestly have to think about it… I think so though…" He looked at Ron and Harry awkwardly before saying. "I'll really have to think about it."

"That is perfectly reasonable although you do not have infinite time to consider it. Show up here after dinner on Friday. I will be ready for your first lesson then. Seamus you can tell me then whether you wish to continue and again I wish I didn't have to put you in this position, and for that I am truly sorry. Oh and as I said please do think about bringing your other dorm mates to the sessions as I believes it would be better for all. However please do not tell them about this unless you intend to bring them as I said before. It would be better to keep this under wraps for everyone involved."

He then walked over to where he was levitating at the beginning of the class, sat down and started levitating again before saying. "Good day. You four run along now."

Seamus looked rather spooked as he left the room. Harry was sure he had some secret he didn't want exposed but he wasn't sure what. Of course it also looked to him like he really wanted to take the class now more than ever. He didn't walk off as Harry had expected him too. Instead he walked with the three of them quietly which in tern caused the three of them to delay their inevitable conversation about professor Saren and the assigned occlumency. Eventually Seamus broke the tension. "I really want to do this… But I…" He then really looked Harry in the eyes for what he could tell was the first time. "I don't want to…" Before either of them could respond he ran off towards Gryffindor tower leaving all of them staring in his wake.

"Well that was quite unexpected." Hermione said as Seamus disappeared around a corner. "I would have thought that he would have been perfectly ok with something like that. After all he doesn't seem the type to harbor a secret. He always seemed rather open and actually a bit vulgar to me."

"Well he obviously has something he's worried about people finding out." Harry looked at Hermione who had a quizzical expression on her face as he said this.

"We'll find out about that at some point either that or he'll find another NEWT as professor Saren said. Now I'm more interested in this professor. Was I the only person who noticed just how young he was?" Ron started walking towards the common room for their free period and Harry and Hermione followed.

"No I actually noticed that when I first saw him in the great hall during the sorting. I had no idea he was even a teacher until he sat down next to Snape and started chatting with him." Ron looked at him oddly as he mentioned Snape.

"Well if he knows Snape than that can't be a good thing. I mean how can we be sure he's not a death eater trying to kill Harry?" Ron seemed adamant and quite accusatory as he usually was where Snape is concerned.

"That is unlikely after all why would he invite us and all of our dorm mates if he wanted to kill Harry? That and Dumbledore wouldn't let any death eaters on campus if he could avoid it." Hermione was logical as usual.

"Well there was Moody and Quirrel though and they were quite effective at almost killing Harry," Ron said, "Speaking of which I wonder who the new defense against the dark arts teacher is?"

Hermione looked at Ron thoughtfully before responding. "I have no idea. But it is likely not Saren if he's already another NEWTs teacher. Returning to Saren for a moment I think we should watch him but I don't think we have any reason to doubt him at the moment. After all Snape may hate you and may wish you and your father never existed but he has never tried to kill you and he has tried to save you on multiple occasions."

Harry thought about this for a moment, yes that made sense after all he seemed like a nice enough guy. And not every teacher Dumbledore had brought in was horrible. There was Remus Lupin after all. "Yes I agree, and since you are going to be there in the class with me at least it's not like I am alone or anything."

"Fine! Fine!" Ron threw his hands up in the air as they reached the fat lady's portrait. "Guardian Force" the portrait opened with a slight nod at a few of its more common annoyances, "but I still want to know who the new Defense teacher is, after all we haven't exactly had the best luck in that department over the years."

Harry was glad at the change of subject. He apparently wasn't the only one curious about this either as Dean, Seamus (who still looked a bit wary), Parvati and Lavender walked up to them. "Heard something about the new Defense teacher, if anyone would know who it is then you would. Come on let us in." Dean seemed excited to be let in on a secret, as did everyone else except possibly Seamus who was still apprehensive presumably about the talk with Professor Saren. Unfortunately Harry had as much clue as they did and so had to disappoint the lot of them.

"Sorry guys but we were just wondering the same thing. Your guess is as good as ours. But as long as it's no Lockheart or…Umbridge," a universal shiver of disgust fell through the small group at the portrait hole at the horrible professor from last year's name. Harry almost felt blasphemous simply uttering the accursed thing, "I assume it will be at least ok. Although with our luck though…" He turned to Ron and Hermione who had been the only people to truly know about his issues with the previous defense instructors.

"Well, I have to say that other than the fact that he tried to kill you and did kill Cedric, Moody was a decently good defense teacher." Fred chimed in after which he was promptly smacked on the head by George.

"Oh come on Fred! That's enough out of you…although he did teach us a lot though…" After that he smacked his own head similarly to how he smacked Fred's. "Bad me!" He said sillily.

Harry didn't want to think about that year. It had been the worst year of his life even worse than his horrible last year. It had been the year his innocence had been taken away from him that fateful day when he and Cedric had been sent to that nameless graveyard. He felt anger and pain pull themselves out of him. That hadn't been his fault however the fact that it wasn't made it all that much worse. At least he had someone to blame for everything last year namely himself. But his fourth year it had all been orchestrated perfectly. He couldn't say that he had been fooled like his fifth year. In that year he had simply been part of everyone else being fooled. He remembered Cedric's face as he fell to the ground expressionless. It has not been what he expected a dead body to look like. It had no signs of life at all not even a face skewed in fear or loathing or anger it was just there. It was like the corpse was the only thing that had ever existed. The person erased from the world in the excruciating pain in Harry's scar and the little blink of an eye.

He rushed upstairs as tears began to overtake him. It brought back too many bad memories. Quirrel burning at his touch which although at the time had saved his life when he thought about it later it had always sickened him. Quirrel for all his problems had been a victim of Voldemort just like everyone else was. His memory fell on Ginny and the diary. An image of Ginny's pale body as Tom Riddle drained the life out of her burned itself into his mind. It had been the first time he had witnessed death. She hadn't actually died but he couldn't deny that that was exactly what he was seeing. She was dying, and he had saved her but that did not negate the fact that she was. Back then he didn't really understand what was going on. Now he did and it was that much more frightening, that much more saddening. Then came Sirius, he felt anger with himself with Snape, with Dumbledore even with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. He felt anger with everyone he had ever known. His mind vented itself in a rush of fresh tears as he rushed into his dorm room straight to his bed.

"Harry…" He heard Ron's voice and saw Fred and George behind him looking forlorn and guilty.

"Go away!" He yelled at them not wanting to see them at all. Ron and Fred looked hesitant but George took them away. Both Fred and George had apologetic looks on their faces.

Harry was crying and angry at himself for crying and crying ever more because of that anger. He was angry at Sirius for dieing angry at Fred and George for bringing it up. Angry at Dean and Seamus for reminding him of it, angry at Ron for not being able to do anything about Sirius do to his out of it state. He was angry at Hermione for not figuring everything out and stopping him from making that crucial error, angry at Lavender and Parvati just for being there. But most of all angry at himself because if he wasn't born if he hadn't been a part of that stupid prophecy if he hadn't been so stupid as to tie with Cedric for the win and try to find what was in the Department of Mysteries when he had been told time and time again to study his occlumency. Snape had been right, but he wasn't mad at Snape anymore, he was mad at himself. It was odd but he felt his hatred for Snape waning and he felt more anger at his own name then his professors. Potter was a horrible legacy it led to only death and destruction and misery. Everything he had ever seen about his parents had been bad. He had seen them die to protect him but had that not happened he would never have had this scar and these horrible things would never have happened. He saw his father do horrible things to Severus Snape for what he could tell was no reason. Then he was horrible to Harry's own mother, how they had gotten together was a mystery to him because he certainly couldn't imagine that brat and that beautiful smart girl liking each other at all. They had been the marauders the trouble makers of the school. But it looked like they had been infinitely worse than the Weasley twins ever were. They genuinely wanted to make people laugh he saw no such notion in his father and Sirius. They broke the rules because they could and because they wanted too.

His mind became foggy and lost all line of coherent thought as his conflicted emotions about the people he loved and yet hated at the same time filled it blinding him to anything else. He felt someone site next to him but he didn't know who it was and strangely he didn't have any felling towards the person at all. Another person sat next to him on his other side one who he knew but didn't hate for some reason.

"Are you ok Harry?" Neville asked from his right.

"Yeah, are you?" The two voices brought him out of his block and he fell backwards laying across his bed crying. He couldn't really feel anything other than the tears. Neville and Wesley just sat there with him. He didn't realize how much he needed that. Wesley had not been a part of any of this and so he was a great neutral wall to brace himself upon while Neville was the only person who honestly could understand a similar kind of Pain he had been through. With Wesley as his emotional bridge back to himself and Neville coaxing him along it with his friendly but concerned face he felt himself leveling out and his anger and sadness fading back into his mind's ether where it started.

"Are you ok?" Neville repeated. Wesley remained silent simply looking at him with a concerned look.

"I think so… Thanks." Harry smiled at his two friends whether he was before Wesley was certainly a friend now. Being one's bridge back to himself is not something easily forgotten.

Neville was now even closer to him than ever. He knew what he had to do, he wasn't exactly ready to tell anyone else this but he was going to tell Neville the prophecy, he deserved to know it as he was a part of it whether it referenced him or not. After all it had been part of the reason his parent were made insane.

Ron, Fred and George entered the room cautiously followed by Hermione who also looked quite concerned. Seamus and Dean followed equally cautiously.

"Are you ok?" Ron asked, echoing Neville's tone almost exactly.

"Yeah I think I am, thanks to these two." He said nodding at Wesley and Neville. "Now I'm tired and I have both potions and defense against the dark arts tomorrow so I'm going to sleep."

"I'm sorry about that." Fred and George looked horribly identical and Harry was unsure which of them had said that but it looked like it didn't matter. It was simply that one of them had beaten the other to what was written obviously on both of their faces.

"Well what are we waiting for wouldn't want another morning like this one!" Seamus smiled and jumped on Harry's bed between Neville and Harry where he draped his arm over his dorm mates in a brotherly fashion. Dean simply laughed at his friends shenanigans and it wasn't long before all eight of them were laughing.

Hermione who had been silent the whole time mouthed 'we'll talk later' before leaving amused, but still with a slightly concerned expression underneath her slight smile.

Harry felt a lot closer to his less known dorm mates than he had ever felt before. He looked at Ron who looked completely horrible. He would have to bridge that soon as well. Despite everything he had told himself it was not Ron's fault and now that he had gotten over that bit of emotional outburst he knew he would have to patch things up with him. He hadn't had enough contact with the boy last year and his friendship was becoming less and less personal. He thought about where and when he would talk to Ron about this as the group got up to go off to dinner. Oddly happy considering what had just transpired.


	8. Worse then Better

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 8: Worse then Better

Breakfast was an oddly calming experience considering that he and Neville were about to go off to their potions NEWT. Neville was obviously incredibly agitated at the thought of having to deal with Snape more when he really didn't want to. While Harry seconded his thoughts it still didn't do anything to improve his own agitated feeling that this was not going to go so well. Snape would not be happy that his two least favorite Gryffindor students had slithered their way into his class. There would be retribution of that he knew greatly. And it wouldn't just be against him, it would be against Gryffindor house, he was also quite sure of that.

Oddly enough however there were more Gryffindors in the class then he expected. He didn't know who else was good at potions but with the outstanding Owl requirements and Snape's harsh biased grading he was certain it would be a small class. But however small the class was there were still going to be four Gryffindors: himself, Hermione, Neville and to his surprise Wesley.

He knew this because Wesley had asked him about the potions class at Dinner after the unfortunate incident the previous evening. He and Ron had gone on their standard anti-Snape rant for most of dinner. Harry wasn't sure if it had been helpful as afterwards Wesley had looked scared more than anything. But Harry was looking forward to having an actual class with his new dorm mate and friend as he really didn't know that much at all about the guy.

"Hope you survive class. Don't take anything he or Malfoy offers to you. I don't think he is past poisoning you to get you out of his class." Ron said rather morbidly as they left breakfast for class and he headed off towards the common room for his free period.

Wesley looked even more scared after that. "What did he mean by that?" He asked shakily.

"Oh, that was just Ron ranting. Snape wouldn't poison you… too much anyway." Harry responded in an equally morbid tone.

"Yeah… at least he hasn't yet." Neville was still shaking and so his attempt the lightening the feel of the group had had the exact opposite effect on Wesley who looked more terrified than ever.

"Oh shut it you two." Hermione said in her standard annoyed studious tone. "Snape is a horrible person and an equally biased one so you better watch out for him because he'll point out a problem with a potion and will not hesitate to give you detention or take away house points. He'll threaten to do any number of things to you but he has never to my knowledge actually hurt a student in class."

Wesley relaxed quite a bit at Hermione's words. "So he's an asshole whose bark is worse than his bite?"

"Essentially."

That clamed him considerably and they spent the rest of the walk to the potions room in silence. As usual for the Gryffindors they were the last ones there as all of them even Hermione wanted to avoid Snape for as long as humanly possible.

As Harry had expected the class was quite small. It wasn't quite as small as the Psionics class but it wasn't exceptionally huge either considering that it was out of his entire year rather than just his house. There were only three Slytherins something that surprised Harry. Apparently in Grading he was just as harsh on his own class in actuality as the only Slytherins he saw in the room with them were Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini and of course, Draco Malfoy. Also in the room with him were Hannah Abbot and Justin, who also surprised Harry with his presence. Unsurprisingly the majority of the class was Ravenclaws including Padma Patil, Anthony Goldstein, Michael Corner and Lisa Turpin as well as one other Harry didn't recognize that much. Everyone was milling around looking at the room as Snape had not showed up yet. Now the room was arranged completely differently. Instead of the tables like there were in their OWLs classes there were seven large cauldrons with small ingredients boards sticking out of them set up evenly spaced around the room except for one which was separated from the rest. Considering that there were fourteen students in the class, Harry grudgingly assumed that they would be in partners and that one Cauldron to the side was for Neville. After all Snape seemed to have a particularly nasty trend as far as he was concerned even more so than with Harry. At least there was a reason for his mistreatment, Neville just seemed to get on his bad side very quickly and stayed there. No one knew what to do as there were no Chairs by the cauldrons to sit in. This also didn't bode well. Mixing potions with Snape for almost two hours without a place to sit was not something Harry looked forward too.

No one in the group said anything while they waited for Snape. Harry thought this spoke wonders for Malfoy who merely sneered in their direction but didn't actually say anything. Harry was certain that this was because Vincent and Gregory were not present. That and the majority of the people in the class were not only non Slytherin but also Harry friendly.

It was at least ten minutes before Snape showed up at the door of his classroom, his trademark sneer on his face. He turned immediately to the Gryffindors as expected and said. "And why Mr. Potter, have you not stood by a cauldron as is obviously implied by their layout?" He said in his usual tone. All the other students quickly rushed to the cauldrons to avoid a similar fate. Harry slowly walked towards him careful not to avoid Snape's look in any way. The last thing he needed was to give Snape another reason to take points away from Gryffindor or even worse remove him from the class before he had even started it. As he neared his professor he clandestinely handed the man the vial containing the Polyjuice potion he had brewed over the summer. Snape simply nodded before saying, "and why are you not at your cauldron yet Mr. Potter? That's ten points from Gryffindor and if I ever see you dawdling again you will be removed from this course!"

Harry was not surprised by this in the least nor did it bother him in any way. After a whole month with Malfoy, Snape didn't seem too horrible anymore. Little did he know how wrong that initial assessment was.

Harry took a place at the same cauldron as Wesley, Neville having already snagged the one Hermione was at while they were talking, mistake number one. "I told you to go to your cauldron not the cauldron of the American! That's ten more points from Gryffindor! And since none of you are at your correct cauldrons that's ten more points for each of you!" Harry stared at him. He had just removed fifty points from Gryffindor in the first five minutes of him being in the classroom because they weren't at their correct placement when he had not even told them what their correct placements were. It only got worse from there.

"Finch-Fletchley! Ten points form Hufflepuff for not being in the correct place. You are with Draco Malfoy… Well! Hurry and go to your cauldron then!" Harry watched as Justin scurried over to where Draco was standing. Harry also noticed that none of the Slytherins had chosen the same cauldron and that Pansy and Malfoy were grinning evilly. Blaise looked quite bored. It was obvious that they knew ahead of time what was going to happen otherwise they would have never all chosen different placements. Pansy and Malfoy had been working together before this forever.

Snape went through the rest of the names quickly and as expected no one but the Slytherins were in the right place, losing Hufflepuff another ten points and Ravenclaw an astounding fifty before even the first ingredients had been set on the cauldron boards. By the time he reached Harry in addition to pairing Justin with Malfoy, he had paired Hermione with Pansy, Terry with Hannah, Padma with Michael, Anthony with the random Ravenclaw he didn't know, and Wesley with Blaise. Snape had the same vindictive smirk he'd had on his face when he had delivered Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory to him this summer as he approached Harry and Neville obviously preparing to rub it in immensely that he was partnering them together and assigning them the wayward cauldron.

"Now for the famous boy who lived who seems to be able to weasel his way out of any predicament. Seeing as both you and Mr. Longbottom have somehow managed to get into this class when neither has even close to the qualifications, I have assigned you together so that we will have no problems with breaking up other pairs. That is assuming that you do not destroy yourselves with a wayward potion first." Harry new exactly what this meant, both he and Neville were being expected to fail the course. The only problem was that with Neville as his partner and Hermione on the other side of the room (again it seemed like this was done purposely) that might just do that. Neville seemed to notice this as well and was shaking with fear as much as ever.

After everyone was in the right place and all non Slytherin decent moods had been erased Snape walked to the head of the classroom and instead of writing the ingredients on the board as he had done previously, he started listing them off incredibly quickly. Harry rushed to get out a scroll and quill but by the time he and Neville had managed to organize themselves on the little ingredients board which was barely big enough for one person to write on let alone two he had already missed half of the potion. Apparently he and Neville didn't have to worry about being the targets of Snape's current rant as his eyes had already zeroed in on Wesley who was frantically writing on a scroll with his pen.

"And what is this?" Snape said as he snatched the pen out of a now horrified Wesley's hands. "You will use no such unworthy item in this class. Where is your quill?"

Wesley's face burned almost crimson shade of pink. "Um, sir I never learned to write with a quill…"

"What are they teaching you in those American schools then? Certainly nothing useful if you aren't even learning something as basic as quillmanship! I will not have someone using a muggle pen in my classroom!"

"But sir Dumble…" Harry could tell this was just going form bad to worse. Apparently he and Neville were not going to be the only ones in this class on his bad list especially now that Wesley had questioned his authority.

"I do not see anyone else in this classroom besides myself. Whatever may have been said before is irrelevant and I will be taking thirty points from Gryffindor for your bad attitude and an additional thirty points for being unprepared for class. I will let you sit in the class today and make the potion but you better have a quill and ink next time or you will be sent out of this room until you do! Is that understood?" Wesley only nodded sheepishly as he put his now useless half written scroll back into his backpack. "Oh and remove this from my sight!" Snape finished, tossing Wesley's pen onto the ingredients board before he walked towards the front of the room never losing his vindictive smirk. Wesley shoved the pen behind his ear mindlessly but made sure to cover as much of it as he could with his rather short hair so now it could barely be seen. Harry hoped that would be enough. He was used to this sort of treatment from Snape. Wesley obviously was not.

"Now that that is done with I trust that you have all written down the instructions to the potion?" He asked suggestively. He had to know that someone had missed it after all he had stated it without telling anyone to get out anything and without any hint of a warning whatsoever especially considering that he had always had complex potions written on the board before. Justin raised his hand causing Snape to immediately head toward his cauldron almost triumphantly.

"I missed the first half of it."

"Ah Mr. Finch-Fletchley and why were you not prepared for class? Obviously you had the sense to bring your quill and papyrus so it is obviously not for a lack of trying." He sneered in Wesley's direction as he said this. Harry was relieved he and Neville had still somehow managed to avoid detection. Justin intelligently didn't answer.

"Ah well then, I suppose I will have to repeat myself again. Potter!" Harry looked up at him so he wasn't going to spend the entire class ignoring him then. "Get up here and write the instructions of the potion on the board. Try and keep up as your fellow students are relying on you." Harry did not like the sound of that so he rushed up as quickly as possible.

He was glad he had as Snape then stated the instructions of the potions again but he did it so fast that Harry barely had enough time to write them all. His wrist was certainly tired after all that writing. He hoped he hadn't missed anything now that Snape had actually made him do something. It would set the mood for the entire year he was sure of that. Snape looked at what he had written then sneered obviously not finding anything wrong with it as he had hoped. "That will be all Mr. Potter." He said in a rather annoyed fashion.

"This potion is a simple anti vampire draught that will make anyone who drinks its blood taste bitter to the undead. It will also burn vampires and the children of vampires if they are splashed by or immersed in it. Be careful as you make the potions as even though it is not difficult to make there are a few easy to make mistakes that make this particular potion rather dangerous. Nothing deadly but you would like have to spend the remainder of the week in the hospital wing. Now all of you get started and I want not a single word uttered to anyone who is not at your cauldron." With that he started walking the room looking at everyone's potions in his usual fashion.

The potion itself was not actually a difficult potion Snape had not been lying when he said that. However it was incredibly time consuming and required meticulous chopping and organization of its ingredients something Harry was finding incredibly difficult with the small area and Neville's constant errors. Harry could see now why Snape picked on him so much, in potions Neville was simply put, a disaster. He almost chopped off Harry's fingers while trying to chop up wolfs bane and then nearly chopped off his own while slicing the coagulated sheep blood because he was shaking so much. After that Harry had declined to let him chop anything else up content that either of them would be very capable of finishing the potion let alone anything else if they didn't have fingers despite Neville's wish to help. Snape had come by their table a couple of times however apparently they had not done anything yet to warrant a reprimand however with how the potion was shaping up Harry was sure this wasn't going to be true for long.

After they were done chopping up their ingredients and sorting them into the relevant piles in order to make sure to add the right stuff when, there was even more trouble as Neville seemed to be paying much more attention to what Snape was doing than what he was and had nearly added the completely wrong ingredient three or four times before Harry decided to finish the potion on his own and let Neville simply watch Snape in fear of what he would do next. Harry was not sure how he was going to get through the year with Neville as a partner. He could see why Snape loathed him so, with his obvious fear of his potions professor he was simply put a wrecking ball as far as potions were concerned. Harry would have to rectify the situation if he ever wanted to pass the class. He would talk to Neville about it later.

The potion looked the right color according to the description that he himself had written up on the board so he started the long tedious process of stirring it. While he was doing that he watched the other groups as it required virtually no effort, it didn't really matter how fast or how vigorously one stirred the potion as long as it was stirred for the entire forty five minute time that it was over the fire. As Harry had expected Hermione was stirring the potions rather meticulously while Pansy simply admired her nails. He had glanced over that way a couple of times during the class and it seemed that Hermione was doing all the work and Pansy was just sitting there reaping the benefits of having her for a partner. Wesley and Blaise seemed to be working together rather flawlessly considering and they were at the moment taking turns stirring the potions and chatting merrily about who knows what. Malfoy and Justin, as expected were not working so well. It looked like Malfoy was trying to get Justin to do all the work while he supervised. Justin on the other hand was refusing to do everything and so they had spent nearly the entire period arguing. They had somehow managed to get all the ingredients together and now Malfoy was stirring the potion with a very irritated expression on his face. Justin had an equally irritated one and he looked like he was meticulously making sure that they had not missed anything by checking his scroll and then looking at the potion and the ingredients board. The remaining pairs were working completely fine as he expected and he didn't really notice them as much as the obvious Slytherin pairings. Although at the moment he would have preferred Malfoy or Blaise to Neville. Neville was a good friend but until he got over his irrational fear of Snape he would never be good at doing anything with potions other than melting cauldrons.

After everyone had been stirring their potions for about forty five minutes Snape started wandering the classroom looking at the presumably finished potions. He dipped his finger in a few of them and tasted yet a few more. He sneered at Blaise and Wesley's potion apparently it had nothing wrong with it and then praised Blaise completely ignoring his partner. Malfoy and Justin had managed to get the potion completely the wrong color an ugly shade of neon green rather than the crimson blood red it was supposed to be and of course Snape has admonished Justin ignoring Malfoy. Hufflepuff lost another twenty points by the end of that. He had gone to all the other groups finding minute things to complain about their potions (they after all didn't have any Slytherin's in their groups so he didn't have to worry about misplaced admonishment or praise).

Last he came to Harry and Neville's piton which Harry thought was perfect. Even with Neville's constant mistakes Harry had managed to pull them together enough to get the potion done exactly as it was written on the board. The question now was what Snape would inevitably find wrong with it. He looked at it and then stuck one finger in it as he had done with most of the other potions. He swirled it around dramatically and then tasted the blood like substance. "Potter, Potter, Potter! If you are going to make this potion correctly you must use a drop of your own blood or some blood form a living human in order to make it truly effective. This potion is useless against any vampire of note!"

Harry was appalled. He knew for a fact that Snape had not mentioned this at all when he had given them the recipe nor had he insinuated anything of the sort. "However this is easily rectified simply add the ingredient now." Harry looked at him oddly before taking his knife and pricking the end of his finger with it. He then let a drop of his blood fall into the potion at which point it basically instantly solidified into a quite gooey substance.

"Ah, well." Snape then turned to the rest of the class. "I am appalled with most of your work! I purposely left out that ingredient because you were supposed to have read up on that particular potion over the summer. I see the only people to do so are Mr. Zabini and Ms. Parkinson." Harry felt like an idiot. He remembered too late that he had in fact studied up on the potion but he had been so busy trying to stop Neville from ruining it that he completely forgot all but what he had written on the board. "If you are at all serious about succeeding in this class then you all must do much better than you showed today. After adding your final ingredients, except for you Finch-Fletchley you are going to have to stay after class and remake the potions correctly. Mr. Potter, Mr. Zabini, Mr. Tinderspoon since you obviously have a perfect grasp on the potion here you will stay behind and help him. Since none of you read anything I want all of you to write me six feet of parchment on the subject of Vampires and their kin. Now off with all of you."

Hermione and Neville waved at him as they left Neville with a very ominous expression on his face. After everyone but Snape had left the room he turned to the four students and smiled.

"I am quite pleased with your work today all four of you." _Wait…did he just say that?_ "Now I must go. You will make sure the potions lab is clean before you leave. And make sure that you bottle up every last drop of that potion." He then left the four of them to their own devices.

"Um…did that just happen?" Justin said, his annoyed look becoming one of complete confusion.

"I guess that was odd now wasn't it." Harry responded as he started getting out the ingredients for the potion in question.

"Well it did look like your potion and our potions were the best Harry. Although why Justin is here I have no idea." Blaise looked at him oddly.

"Hey that was all Malfoy's fault! I know this potion like the back of my hand. I need to in order to become a healer. It is the only thing that can reverse vampirism." Justin was adamant.

"This still doesn't answer the question why would Snape want us to bottle all of the potion up?" Wesley asked. "Are we expecting the school to be attacked by vampires or something?"

Harry didn't know how to respond. He wouldn't at all be surprised if that was exactly why they made this potion. This thought did nothing to relax him after all it was an important question. Why would anyone need this much of a potion designed to battle such a rare thing?

"Well I suppose that me and someone should start working on that last batch of potion while the others start bottling." Justin said as he headed towards the ingredients shelf to gather the required stuff. Blaise volunteered to help with the potion leaving Harry and Wesley to their own devices and a box full of empty vials.

"Well I suppose we should get started after all we are going to want to be able to get clean for lunch after this." Wesley said as he started ladling the very thick potion into a vial. "This is going to take forever…" Wesley was right this was going to take forever. But Harry started filling up the vials anyway while Justin and Blaise worked painstakingly on making sure they would only have to remake the potion again once.

Harry was curious about Blaise still and seeing as how Wesley had just worked and talked with him for almost two hours and had showed a rather unbiased opinion as far as Slytherins go he was the perfect candidate to ask about him.

"Well he seems completely nice to me, not at all like how you describe Slytherins. We both already knew the potion. I was taught it in ninth grade alchemistry…I suppose the potions equivalent although we worked with muggle chemistry a bit in that class as well. I have no idea where Blaise knew it from but since we both already knew it, it was incredibly easy. We spent the entire rest of the time just chatting about each other and school and stuff. Nothing too personal though."

Harry still got mixed messages from Wesley. It was weird how he talked still like he had a lot to say and he loved to talk and be friendly with people and yet he talked very fast and with an air of expectation that they might drop him at the drop of a hat.

"Harry? Ok well I guess I'll stop bothering you and go vial up another cauldron."

Harry smiled at him and said, "No I enjoy talking with you, sorry I was just noticing that you talk quickly and you seem a bit nervous to." _More like VERY nervous._ Harry thought to himself.

"Sorry, I wasn't exactly the most popular kid at my old school… Actually saying I wasn't popular would be an understatement as with the exception of my brother and my best friend pretty much everyone there was cautious of me at best. I guess I'm just waiting for the second shoe to drop. It always does." Wesley looked like he was a victim of much more than simple school social issues as that was very much the same as Harry's school experience before Hogwarts. But it sounded from Wesley's tone as if it were just a facet of a bigger problem. It implied that for him things had always been that way. Harry understood that all too well. His first year Hogwarts letter wasn't addressed to 'Harry Potter Number 4 Privet Drive The little cupboard under the stairs' for nothing.

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to that so he just put his hand on Wesley's shoulder, smiled and then continued working. They worked in silence for a while and by the time Snape returned they had bottled up four of the six remaining cauldrons. Justin and Blaise who seemed to work much better together than he and Malfoy ever could had finished the potion and were now talking in a rather friendly manner. Of course considering that Blaise simply seemed nicer than Malfoy did help with that assessment. He thought almost anyone would be better to work with than Malfoy. At least Pansy would just sit there and let you do the potion on your own but would also leave you alone.

Snape wasn't alone either as into the room with him came none other than the new psionics instructor Leon Saren. Professor Saren and Snape walked over to one of the still full cauldrons where Saren put his finger into it and then waited for few seconds before putting the tip on his finger in his mouth and then nodding. Snape then nodded to him and he left quite quickly. "That will be all. I will finish bottling up the potion."

The four students rushed quickly back to their common rooms so that they could get clean and get clean robes on before going to lunch. Harry and Wesley left Blaise and Justin at a flight of stairs and rushed up them. Hoping to god that the staircases decided to remain stable as they were cutting the beginning of lunch close enough already. Harry then ran down a corridor and then darted through a hidden door behind a tapestry that he remembered from using the Marauders Map. Wesley just raised an eyebrow at that but followed anyway. They didn't talk the whole way they were in such a hurry. Since he knew the castle better Wesley followed him and in almost no time at all they were back at the portrait of the fat lady out of which there was coming a conveniently placed student. Dennis Creevy pushed himself into the side wall as the bigger older boy ran past him. Harry was glad, the boy was too shocked to ask him anything and the last thing he needed at that moment was being assaulted by Colin or Dennis Creevy.

They rushed to the sixth year Gryffindor dorm where they found Fred and George, who to Harry's Knowledge had been no where near the potions lab his entire class. Rather than worry about why they were there and why they hadn't been in class with him this one time He yanked off his robes and ran into the bathroom to take a shower. Wesley just gaped at him before saying, "I'll just wait..." and blushing slightly.

"And why would you do that?" Harry asked confusedly. "We're dorm mates no use hiding anything here." Then he went into the showers to get clean being followed by a very self conscious looking Wesley. Harry was not surprised when Wesley took the Shower furthest away form him on the opposite corner of the shower room. It was obvious that he would have rather had his own stall but that was it. It was odd though because he seemed rather uncomfortable in there cleaning himself and it wasn't like an emotional uncomfortability of showering with another boy, it was more like he was physically uncomfortable with it. Of course Harry was spending much more time cleaning himself then worrying about his odd new dorm mate and in no time he was out of the shower and into the dorms shoving on his robes again to get ready for breakfast. Wesley came out of the shower looking a lot happier in another minute or so. He looked sparkling clean a lot cleaner than he was before and Harry would have assumed he had just use Scourgify, but he hadn't had his wand so how could he?

"You ready?" The enigma of a boy asked. "I am getting rather hungry."

"Ok let's go then." Harry still liked him though even if he wasn't the most open person. After all Harry understood what it was like to harbor secrets. He had been doing that since way before he knew any of the people here.

"_Hello, how are you this morning?_" Harry jumped as he heard the familiar voice of Wesley's snake.

"_Sorry I didn't respond two days ago. It isn't exactly the best thing being a parcel mouth around here._" Harry responded to the small creature.

"_I understand, after all he is my master. I do hope he opens up to you and your friends however, I listen to you and you seem very nice._"

Harry was surprised at that, "_You can understand human speech?_"

"_No, but I am a snake. I can feel at least some of your emotions and you don't seem scared of him I the slightest. Something he rarely got at home._"

Harry pondered at this a second before answering. "_Why were people afraid of him? Is there something about him I should be scared of?_"

The snake let out what Harry could only describe as the parcel tongue equivalent of a laugh before saying. "_Yes, I suppose that you and your friends have something to worry about. But then again wouldn't this conversation right here be deemed something to worry about here? I bet he would be considered similar maybe better maybe worse but in any case you have to ask yourself: What makes the man, his body or the smile behind his face?_"

Harry stopped to ponder this before he noticed the look on Wesley's face. He had forgotten he was there for a second which was odd considering he was talking to his snake that he couldn't even see. "So what's the old bugger got to say?" Wesley said before producing the small snake and letting it wrap itself around his finger.

"He seems to really like you." Harry said in a calm tone.

"Well I know THAT. He has never once tried to leave. You know he came up to me not the other way around? Yeah I know he likes me… But anything else? Maybe something spooky or interesting? I have always wanted to know what he thinks about."

Harry didn't know how to respond. After all they were just talking about him. "Well actually we were talking about you…"

Wesley's smile faltered for a second before he said. "So…" in a slightly more wary tone.

"Oh he just said a few things about you nothing to worry about though. So are you in defense against the dark arts class too?"

Wesley looked at Harry warily one more before saying. "Yeah I am, and I can't wait! I have always loved the jinx and counter curse classes at my school but we never really learned anything about real battling. A true defense against the dark arts class would be awesome!"

Harry wasn't sure how to respond to this. He did after all remember all of his previous teachers only two of which actually taught defense against the dark arts. Quirrell had been too scared of his shadow to do anything but nervously talk, of course that was likely do to the fact that he had to hide that he had a dark lord attached to the back of his head. Lockheart had been as useless as they come not knowing anything about actual dark arts and Umbridge had barely taught them what she was trying to teach them from the books, which wasn't really anything anyway. He had no idea who the new teacher was going to be, he figured it would be someone form the order, however who that would be was anyone's guess. Especially considering that he probably didn't even know half of them.

"Well we'll both be finding out then, I have had a couple good defense teachers here but most of them have been horrible." Harry finally decided on the truth.

"Oh." was Wesley's only response.

They continued chatting idly about any which thing that came to mind as they hurried down to lunch. When they got there they went and sat down between Ron and Hermione in what apparently was now their regular seating arrangement.

"Hey Harry, I know we all have defense against the dark arts next and I thought of something in case the teacher is well… Centaur bait like in some way or another." Centaur bait… Harry liked Neville's nickname for the unmentionable abomination of a teacher that was Umbridge. Neville then produced a gold galleon and flung it onto the table in front of his dorm mates. Harry understood immediately. It was the same gold Galleon that Hermione had given out to all the DA members the previous year. Seamus and Dean stopped chatting at this point to listen in excitedly. Lucky for them, even though they were caught and their location and members detained they had never caught on to the Galleon communications device and so, especially now with Umbridge gone and Fudge not on Harry's back like a hawk. They could start up the DA again. And in these pressing times, Harry was sure they were going to need it. That and even though Harry wasn't to keen on the idea when it had first been brought up and hadn't exactly liked it the entire time because of all the contact with so many different students. He had had an entire summer to think about it and now he realized that that was the best thing that had happened that entire year. Maybe even the best thing he had accomplished in all of his time at Hogwarts.

"Actually," Harry started, "I plan on doing that anyway." He motioned all of his dorm mates and Hermione together before whispering quickly. "Linger after lunch we'll discuss it then."

Wesley gave them a raised eyebrow as if to say "me too?" Harry made no attempt to tell him yes or no. He honestly did not care if he stuck around or not. He was going to invite him to the DA after he had it done. But right now he would rather wait to include the boy unless he was curious enough to ask on his own. After all he didn't want to risk getting caught before he even started by talking too much about it.

It was then that a big pair of hands draped themselves around Harry and Ron and another pair around Wesley and Hermione. Fred and George Weasley had shown up at the table.

Harry was actually surprised at this he had assumed that they had been there the entire time. Harry had found himself noticing them less and less as they spent more time together. He hadn't even noticed that they hadn't been with him all morning.

"Hello Harry what's up?" George said with his curious and 'innocent' smile.

Fred on the other hand noticed the Galleon on the table and raised his eyebrow his mouth curving into his more mischievous smirk. "The Army marches again then?" He said in a whisper into Harry's ear. Harry smiled slightly and nodded. Then the Weasley twins sat between Harry and Ron and Hermione and Wesley for lunch.

"Sorry about that Harry, but Snape absolutely refused to let us sit in on his class even to protect the boy who lived saying that he could provide all the protection you needed."

"Of course that wouldn't protect you from him but we decided it would be more prudent to ignore that line of thought entirely." Fred chimed in merrily after George's explanation. "So we took the opportunity to check out how Lee was doing with our store. That took longer than expected because of a few mishaps along the way."

"Nothing we couldn't handle of course." George smiled as he cut off his brother in their usual fashion. "We would appreciate it if you didn't tell mum about this she'd have us removed from the job in a heartbeat."

Harry agreed and they spent the rest of lunch chatting idly about this and that biding their time until lunch ended so they could chat on the way to defense against the dark arts. Which they all agreed would be at the very least an interesting if not horrible experience. If they had learned anything it was that their defense classes were rarely boring. Nope boring classes was professor Binns' job. Even divination with professor Trelawny was hardly boring if you actually listened to the crazy things she said. That woman would leave you laughing for months. That is if you lived that long as according to her everyone was going to die at least two times a week.

Eventually the end of lunch came and right as it was about to end the group of sixth year Gryffindors filled up their plates again right as the food was disappearing. They began to munch on this while waiting for everyone to leave. Wesley had apparently decided to wait and see what was going on as he had gotten a last glass of pumpkin juice as everyone else was filling up their plate and was now sipping it quietly watching the small group.

Once everyone else in the room had left besides Saren and Snape who were still at the teachers table talking but ignoring the small group of students. They stood up and began slowly walking towards their defense class while quietly talking about the DA.

"Ok so I figured you all would want to do the DA again. And I didn't have any time to finish everything I wanted to teach last year." Harry said to the group.

"What's this DA?" Wesley asked.

"Well, you know how I mentioned earlier that we have had crappy defense against the dark arts instructors?"

"Yeah…"

"Well we decided to start our own club for teaching students who really wanted to learn how to REALLY defend themselves against the dark arts. I was teaching it for obvious reasons."

"Cool! I'm definitely in." He said excitedly, apparently everyone had been expecting that as no one was surprised at all.

Hermione, the ever prepared one produced a Galleon from her pocket and gave it to him. He gaped at it questioningly. "It's not real." She said, "The serial number on it changes to show the next date and then it gets warm to alert that it has changed."

The boys looked at Hermione, "Well I figured we would do it again now that Umbridge is gone as even if we do actually get a competent defense teacher we are still incredibly behind in those classes. So I think we should do it again regardless of who the new teacher is. And of course given this like of thought it was only natural that I make more of these little things as I wouldn't expect everyone to not lose theirs and even if no one did there is always the prospect of new members especially among first years."

Harry wanted to be surprised at this he really did but he knew Hermione too well for that and other than a slight bit of shock at actually seeing the new Galleon, he found that he would have found it odder had she not considered this during the summer. After all this had originally been her idea in the first place.

"Well then let us get to class shall we? Might as well get this done faster rather than slower that way if it's horrible…which it will likely be then we have it done and if not then that's all the better." Ron's voice sounded quite Hermione like when he said that and Harry wondered again as he had in the past exactly how much Hermione had rubbed off on them.

Everyone nodded and so the group of eight quickly headed towards the sixth year NEWTs Auditorium where the larger NEWTs were held. Harry had never hard of this place before nor had he seen it anywhere. His only memory of this was a large room on the marauder's map which sometimes had a large number of older students in it. But he hadn't paid much attention to it because he had always been doing more pressing things at the time and he was just glad that that many people were in one room because it left the corridors more open for him.

Harry would have spent more time finding out that the auditorium was a rather boring room but he, Ron, and Hermione were to busy staring at the woman in front of the room. For standing on front of the room on top of a stage at the back of it was none other then the young metamorphmagi Nymphadora Tonks. Fred and George seemed to have similar but less shocked reactions to the woman. Being friends of her they walked up to the front of the classroom where there were still empty seats and sat down. Harry was wary of the desk and with the chair by it and the lamp on it as well as the suit of armor with what looked like a recently shined and likely sharpened sword on it. She was obviously a good Auror but she was also clumsier when walking than Neville was with a wand.

As soon as they sat down she winked in their direction acknowledging their presence. As soon as Harry got over the shock of seeing her there, this had been the last person he had expected for defense against the dark arts, he began looking around the room. The room itself other than being big and having a stage was pretty nondescript. There was a large shield on the back wall with the emblems of the four houses on it and there were windows all along the very top of the room which allowed just a bit of sunlight into the room. There were torches right below the windows providing the main light. Also on the stage was the desk with a lamp and a chair a suit of armor, two tables set up adjacent to each other each with two benches and rather large statues of an Eagle, a Lion, a Badger and a Snake on each corner of the stage facing the center. As spectacular as this could be considered the room was relatively tame compared to many of the other rooms that Harry had seen at Hogwarts.

He then looked at the other students in the room and noticed that almost the entire sixth year class was there. As he looked around he also noticed that every sixth year member of the DA was also here. Justin, Hannah and Ernie even waved at him when they caught his eye. Harry also saw to his dismay that Malfoy, Millicent Bulstrode and Pansy Parkinson were also in the class. However he also noticed Blaise sitting by himself in the corner of the room with almost no one near him. Vincent and Gregory were at Malfoy's side as expected. Harry wondered how so many people had made the requirements for the NEWT level class. He had expected all of the DA to do it as they had actually gotten practical experience on the subject but after Umbridge not to mention the majority of the previous instructors he didn't really see how most of the students had passed the OWL at all let alone gotten a high enough score to get into this NEWT.

"I wonder what she is going to teach?" Fred's voice startled Harry who had no answer to his question. Fred and George were back at his side each one taking a place on opposite sides of the other sixth year Gryffindors. Fred sat next to Harry and George was next to Dean on the opposite side of the row.

After a little while people stopped trickling in. At that point Tonks walked forward in what could have been an incredibly graceful move had it not been her doing it. Instead she had managed in one step to not only trip over a chair but also knock over the desk with the lamp on it and start a fire right there on the floor of the stage. After that she swore and vanished the fire with her wand.

Everyone but Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George were staring at her like she was the moon. Ron Fred and George were trying not to laugh, Harry having expected this or something like it was just sitting there waiting for class to continue and Hermione was eying the laughing Weasley's with disdain.

Tonks of course seemed wholly unaffected by her previous mishap and simply grimaced rubbing her shin where she had hit the poor now broken chair before smiling at the shocked students.

"Sorry about that I can be a tad Clumsy." Harry almost joined in the Weasley's snickering at that gross understatement. Tonks was the most klutzy person he had ever met. "I am your new defense against the dark arts instructor, Professor Tonks." She then walked towards the front of the stage, intelligently avoiding getting near anything else she could knock over. Harry was afraid that she would trip and fall right off the stage but thankfully her step did not falter as she started up the class.

"For those of you who might wonder about my qualifications to teach the class, I was an Auror until I decided to take up this position." She then smiled again before saying. "But of course you don't want to hear about that. You are all NEWT level students who want to start waving wands!" She waved her wand in the students' direction playfully. It was amusing watching the students cower away from her wand as if she were going to accidentally curse them. Harry knew form experience that regardless of whether she could walk through a hallway without knocking something over, that she was great with a wand and the likelihood of her making a mistake with it was low.

Her expression got more serious, "Now everyone get out your wands stand up and then banish your desks to the edge of the room." Harry stood up and hoped he could get the banishing charm he had learned fourth year right. He did manage to not make too big a noise when his desk crashed into the other desks that had previously been banished. Quite a few of the desks broke as people couldn't control the charm yet and most of the others made a large crashing sound. Hermione and Padma were the only students whose desks stopped cleanly next to the wall without a sound. Of course they were crushed by the other desks that were banished after them, so in the end it didn't matter. The majority of the desks had either been crushed by their banisher or crushed by another desk and thus were now useless piles of wood. "Hmm…" she said after the fiasco. "We're going to have to work on that one…

"Now all of you line up in two even lines so that you are all facing each other off." Everyone did that and predictably it ended up being the Ravenclaws and Slytherins against Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs as the classes tended to sit together and that was how they had arranged themselves at the beginning of the class.

"Good, now we are going to practice a useful little spell that you were shown in your second year but may not have actually learned how to effectively do. The disarming spell, Expelliarmus." There were a few groans from students who seemed to think that this was a pointless spell to practice. Harry was beaming as he knew that he was gong to ace this one. He also noticed that most of the DA members were smiling as well. They knew as much as he did how useful a spell it can be. After all they had been practicing it for a long time and had used it on many sparing occasions during the club. They also were the few students who knew that it had been effective against Voldemort. Showing them just how much of a lifesaver it can be.

"You all know how the spell works, so on the count of three, I want you to disarm your opponent." Harry looked at Millicent, who was opposite him and looked ready to pounce. For some reason the Slytherin's looked pleased like they thought this would be easy. Harry intended to prove them wrong. How right he was, for even though both Pansy and Malfoy cast the spell on two, Justin who was opposite Pansy ducked away from the poorly aimed curse, and Neville who was opposite Malfoy deflected the spell with Protego forcing Malfoy to duck. At then end Harry noticed immediately that none of the former DA members had had their wands taken and all of the non DA members who had faced off against one were missing their wands. Even Seamus who had been only a member for one session had easily disarmed his opponent. It looked to Harry as if he had been practicing all summer. The DA members who had faced off each other had each managed to avoid the others spell. Tonks immediately noticed the total split in ability as far as that spell was concerned.

"Well… That was interesting. I think I am going to have to redo this a little bit. Return the wands please." Harry threw Millicent back her wand. All the Slytherins looked pissed except for Blaise who simply looked at Ernie opposite him with a raised eyebrow.

"Ok now, I see some of you have had a lot of practice with this spell. Will those of you who know this spell well come over here?" Harry, along with all the DA members in the class walked over to her as did Malfoy. Harry found it hard to believe that Malfoy was that familiar with the spell considering that he had been disarmed by Neville. Who had possibly the worst aim of any of the DA members but he didn't say anything. Tonks on the other hand noticed this immediately.

"Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Longbottom will you please face off again." Harry knew exactly what she was doing. She hated the Malfoy's just as much as Sirius did. Harry found he wasn't as shaken by the thought of Sirius as he had been in the past. That cry he had had with Wesley and Neville had apparently helped him get over it significantly. Looking back towards what was going on he could think of no better test for Malfoy than Neville. He was sure that Neville would win and that would make Malfoy even madder.

It was so perfect it was hilarious. It was the exact thing that had happened before. Apparently Malfoy hadn't gotten that cheating wasn't going to work here as not only had Neville fought off real death eaters before but they had spared with basically no rules in the DA to see what real duels were actually like. So when Malfoy went on two again, Neville simply cast Protego again Malfoy ducked the spell and Neville then just disarmed him while he was dodging his own spell and there wasn't much he could do about it, at least without the Protego charm, which he apparently didn't know or rolling on the ground, which Harry was certain Malfoy wouldn't even think of let alone actually do.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Draco you are going to have to do better than that if you want to win any duels." Tonks smiled in Neville's direction, apparently she was quite impressed. "Go stand over there with the other students." Malfoy hurried over to where the others were standing grumbling the whole time.

The rest of the period was very fun for the DA members, they were in their element. They spent their time practicing deflecting curses and disarming mid curse or mid dodge while the others practiced the most basic use of the spell. Harry and the DA had long ago realized that the spell is fairly automatic. The trick is how and when to use it as well as how to counter it. As simple a spell as it is to do it can be one of the most deadly spells in your repertoire when dueling another wizard especially one who is useless without a wand. Harry noticed that while Neville seemed clumsy and out of touch with his old wand which he often made simple and not so simple mistakes with. Whatever wand he was using now was working a whole lot better for him. He was flinging spells with it like it was natural for him to do so and not like he did from his previous wand which always seemed awkward to Harry even when he successfully cast with it. The wand itself looked very different than the other wands in the room, and he wondered if he was the only one who noticed that. For one thing it was made of a silvery metallic substance rather than wood. Harry had never seen a metal wand before and wondered how he had got it especially considering that it was likely he went to Ollivander's, and as far as he could tell all of those wands were made of wood.

After a while the DA members got tired of working with the spell they had been working with since the clubs beginning and stopped to watch the other students fumble through it.

Malfoy seemed to be fine at using the spell to disarm opponents assuming they didn't deflect it with the deflection charm of course. On the other hand he seemed rather not adept at avoiding being disarmed relying solely on removing the opposition before the opposition removed him. While this was a completely viable strategy it wasn't a particularly great one when practicing for defending oneself against things that won't play fair. After all it implies that you are aware that any enemies are there. Harry knew from experience that Death eaters were very slippery creatures capable of sneaking up on even the most wary of foes.

Wesley seemed to be quite the opposite of Malfoy, being able to avoid getting disarmed quite adequately but being horrible at actually connecting with the spell itself. However he did use protego and quite a few impressive evasive maneuvers which led Harry to believe that he had been in a few Duels before coming to Hogwarts, another interesting note about the mysterious boy.

Other than those two there wasn't anything particularly note worthy about the students. They all seemed rather at the point everyone in the DA was when they started learning it. They were disarmed a few times and disarmed each other a few times and sometimes disarmed the wrong person.

After they got to the point where they could work on their own, or at least when Tonks thought they were at that point she came over to the group of obviously more experienced students. "You would be last year's army of Dumbledore aren't you?"

"Well we aren't the only members, and it was Dumbledore's Army not the army of Dumbledore, but yeah that is correct." Hermione announced to the teacher, Harry would have been worried had it been anyone other than Tonks. But he knew she wouldn't care about this at all.

"Ah well then I guess I will be expecting you guys to help the others along. After all we can't have anyone falling to far behind." With that she went back to the other students leaving the DA members to themselves.

"Well when should we hold our first meeting?" Justin asked the group. "I mean we are going to continue with it now that Umbridge is gone right?" He looked at Harry and Hermione expectantly.

"Of course we are." Ron responded, "You all still have your Galleons right?"

Everyone nodded yes with Neville adding. "I was so happy with last year that I didn't even have to be reminded of it by anybody! I remembered it all on my own." Everyone was impressed with this. Neville had never to Harry's knowledge remembered anything like this on his own for more than a few weeks let alone the whole summer, especially if it wasn't being used.

"Well then you all know how this works. I will make times."

Hermione Jumped in at this point. "And don't worry they will all be after school to not mess with your class schedules." Only Hermione, Padma and a few others were happy about this. Ron actually groaned.

"Well then can't have a party without us!" Fred and George walked up to the group, obviously quite aware of what was being talked about.

"No we can't. Hmm…" Hermione looked at the other students. "Should we invite any more students? I mean it was supposed to be a club for anyone who wanted to learn."

"Well I don't trust any of the Slytherins or that new Wesley kid." Ernie eyed the other group of students suspiciously as he said this.

"Well I already invited Wesley and from what I can see he will be a great addition if he can cast any of the spells correctly." Harry said. "As for the Slytherins I might invite Blaise after all he has been nicer to us lately… And actually Vincent and Gregory might be good additions as well…" Ron eyed him obviously aware of whom he was talking about. "But we should decide that later after all of us have met. I figured I should invite along Wesley, after all he is a new dorm mate of mine and could theoretically get us caught if he found out about it and wasn't there."

"So you still intend this to be a secret?" Susan's voice rang out.

"Yes, mostly so that we don't have too many students there. But also because I don't want any Death Eater's finding out too much about what were doing or are capable of. After everything that has happened I want to be careful."

Everyone nodded, and as the class ended everyone walked off to wherever they were supposed to go. Harry was not sure how he was going to organize this and of course Hermione was in class so he couldn't talk with her either.

Harry ignored the other students as he planned out what he would ask her some the time as they walked back towards the common room. He heard everyone talking about Tonks but she really didn't surprise him as much as he would have thought once he got over the initial shock of her being there.

Harry loosely noticed Snape watching them with Saren standing nearby, both having grave expressions on their faces. He slowed a bit and let others pass before realizing that he was not looking at him but in fact looking at Wesley. Saren in his own way also seemed to be "looking" at him. They both walked off shortly after and Harry hurried back towards the others wanting to report to Ron what he had seen when he got the chance to see him alone.

Afterthoughts

Review Responses

Aubrey: Tanks dear friend for that review. I hope to get more in the future.

theKnowItAll: Yeah, to trust or not to trust that is the question…well Harry has made his decision but is it the right one? Evil Grin As for Wesley's name I honestly did not notice at all that they were similar but you were not the first person to point it out to me. Unfortunately if it is confusing his name is Wesley too much in my mind to change it, so that's that I suppose. They have nothing in common, just an amusing coincidence. Yeah I love Charlie which is why I brought him back. As for professor Saren, yeah he is an odd one isn't he? All the better to keep you reading I suppose.

Thanks for you're reviews…all two of them. If anyone else is reading this could you review it just to make sure that I know you are reading it so that I have a reason to keep writing it. Because I want to but that would be pointless if no one reads it.


	9. Wands and the Alacritis Charm

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 9: Wands and the Alacritis Charm

The next morning's Herbology class was nothing particularly special. The class wasn't large by any means but it wasn't exceptionally small either being about one third of the sixth years. Professor Sprout had spent the entire class handing out the students' new kits for handling the more dangerous plants they would be using and learning about in the Newts class. The kits themselves contained a rather odd spade with a hook on the end of its handle, which professor Sprout said would be explained later when it would be used. Dragon hide gloves for obvious reasons. A face mask and goggles as some of the later plants would have some nasty spores and other airborne defense mechanisms. There were quite a bit of other obviously more specialized tools which she simply said would be used for specific lessons and so will be described in the individual lessons. Harry had found it hard to concentrate as she had spent nearly a half an hour describing how to put on the Goggles and another for the face mask, which is what took up most of the time. After that class all the students were anticipating what was going to happen next but glad to get out of there to something slightly more interesting.

Harry, Ron and Neville stepped off towards the Gryffindor Common room for their study period while Hermione went off to yet another class. How she was doing all this work was news to them. But they had never known how she pulled off all her studies while still having time to help them on theirs. Hermione, when it came right down to it, was a genius that was the only explanation any of them could come too.

Of course, that was the last thing actually on their minds, Harry was telling them about how he noticed Snape and Saren watching (Harry could not describe what Saren was doing in any other way then watching) Wesley.

"Your saying Snape was there watching him and Saren was there next to him?" Ron asked.

"Yeah."

"Weird. Why would either of them care that much about him?"

"Maybe he's a vampire?" Neville chimed in, "we did after all make a lot of Vampire Draught…"

"No, it couldn't be that. He helped me bottle the potion and both of us got enough of it on our hands in the process that if the potion was working the way Snape described, any vampirism would have been obvious." Harry thought and thought and the more he thought the more the boy's actions didn't make any sense.

"Well I don't trust him." Ron said with a grimace. "He's definitely hiding something. And he gets along too well with the Slytherins."

Harry didn't want to believe him after all Wesley had helped him through a tough moment but the more he thought about it the more he realized how little he actually knew about the boy. Then he remembered something else odd. "Yesterday after we bottled the potion me and Wesley were in a rush to get to lunch. We both needed showers and of course since the showers are communal anyway I dragged him inside. He went to the furthest shower which didn't really bother me after all we hadn't been dorm mates for that long and so hadn't seen each other much. But he was shivering, so much so that I could tell from where I was standing without even looking at him. It wasn't an uncomfortable shiver, but it wasn't embarrassment either it was more than that. I don't exactly know what was going on but only like a minute after I left he came out sparkling clean and fully dressed. I don't see how… He wasn't cleaning himself he was more so standing in the corner facing away from me. And he didn't have his wand to clean himself magically nor the clothes he came out in for that matter."

Ron was about to respond to this when they ran into a very fast moving McGonagall. "Thank goodness I have finally found you." She said quickly, "I have been looking all over for you since I missed you after your Herbology class." She looked rather tired and was leaning on her cane like she had been hurrying and was out of breath.

"What's wrong professor?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, nothing in fact everything's great now that I have found you." Harry looked at Ron who seemed just as confused as he was. "I wanted to contact you about this earlier but I didn't have time what with all the extra work we had to do over the summer." Harry took this to mean business for the order. But that still didn't explain the sudden run in with their head of house. "I am glad you are both together, it is about the Gryffindor quidditch team."

That was the last thing Harry had been expecting after last year he wasn't sure if he would be able to play at all. After all as unfair as it had been, it had been in Umbridge's power to discipline him however she wanted to and while he doubted that the "life ban" was truly as such he didn't expect to be able to play at school anymore. "What quidditch team? What about last year?"

"Oh you mean Professor Umbridge? That was nonsense utter nonsense. For one thing once she was over stepping her bounds completely. No where in the guide to setting punishment is a lifetime ban from anything even implied. And of course once she was removed it was completely in my power, and if not mine the Headmaster's power to remove the ridiculous ban." She then smiled and stood up still leaning lazily on her stick. "Of course this doesn't change the fact that ALL three of the Chaser's and the former captain all left last year and so now we have it build a completely new team from scratch. You being the current most senior member of the team, even including last year's setback, are the obvious choice for captain."

Harry was dumfounded, him Gryffindor team captain? Part of him was slightly happy that she had considered hi for it and unfortunately her logic did make sense. But with the Occlumency lessons, the DA, his NEWTs and dealing with Snape he was overwhelmed enough as it was without adding more to it. And that was ignoring the whole prophecy that was being held over his head. "I'm not sure I'm up to being team captain." Harry said honestly. "I already have too much going on at the moment."

McGonagall looked slightly depressed but understanding. "I thought you might feel that way, which leads me to the other reason I came here. The choices for captain are limited as with the exception of you every member of the remaining team was new last year. Do you have any suggestions?"

Ron looked at him expectantly. However he couldn't see Ron in a leadership position. It just wasn't him. He was a great follower and a great friend and even a not so bad quidditch player when he didn't let everything get to him, but team captain? He could see that getting really bad really fast. That's when it came to him.

"Ginny." He said. Ron gaped at him it wasn't anger as Harry had expected it was more shock. McGonagall simply raised an eyebrow at him. "She knows her stuff, how could she not with quidditch playing brothers? And she does seem to have some competence at the game. It seems all the Weasleys have some degree of talent on the field." He said thoughtfully. "And I think she of all the people on the team would be the best leader. After all she has experienced a lot more then they have and doesn't to my knowledge have as much going on with her as the rest of us." He looked at Ron apologetically. Funnily enough he was smiling.

"Hmm…you may be right. I'll have to ask her if she is willing. But I still want you two," she glanced at Ron as she said this, "to overlook the tryouts for the three chaser positions. I hear Ginny is going to try out for Chaser this year when you return as seeker?" McGonagall smiled as she asked this.

"That's what I hear," Ron said, "and she's a spankin good one too if you ask me. She has been practicing all summer and now not even Charlie can block her. Admittedly he isn't a Keeper. But he has a lot more experience with quidditch than I do."

"Ok, I hope that you can help rebuild the team, Katie, Alicia and Angelina not to mention Fred and George were almost irreplaceable."

"Did someone mention us?" Harry looked and saw Fred and George walking out of a secret passageway.

"Actually we were talking about the new quidditch team." McGonagall said smiling at them. "And I would of course love to have you two back on the team but it is likely that the other heads of house would dispute this and now would not be a good time to start an argument between the professors of each house alongside the ongoing one between the students." Harry found this rather amusing. McGonagall had a rivalry with Snape at least as much as any Gryffindor, she obviously hid it and it was more professional then social but anyone could see it was there.

"Makes sense, not only that but we will have our hands full guarding the game for Harry here anyway going after Bludgers wouldn't exactly be doing our job, as fun as it would be." George again sounded quite a lot more like Hermione he really was a lot more serious than his brother. Fred just stood there continuing to grin.

"Of course I would love it if you two would help coach the team, especially Sloper and Kirke who as you could see from last year aren't exactly the best beaters." Harry could tell from how she dropped her head that even that statement was glossing over the truth. Compared to Fred and George, Kirke and Sloper might as well not even be on the field. They could barely aim bludgers towards standing targets let alone someone flying on a broomstick.

"Now I need to go to a staff meeting. The tryouts are on Saturday at ten o'clock. I posted them so you shouldn't forget. Remember that you should try to get there early to make sure everything goes smoothly. Oh and don't let the Slytherins take the pitch form you for anything other than a note from Dumbledore himself. I booked the pitch for our tryouts with Hooch personally so that not even Snape can take it away. Well have a good day!" With that their head of house went off, quite quickly Harry thought considering she was effectively hobbling using her cane. With that Fred and George disappeared again. Harry wasn't sure what was going on but they seemed to be there when they should and this gave him at least the illusion of privacy.

"Wow! You're gonna get to play quidditch again Harry!" Neville beamed at him excitedly. "Maybe this year we'll actually taker the house cup!"

"Yeah, oh and thanks for suggesting Ginny instead of me for captain." Ron surprised him by saying this. "I wanted the job at first but then realized that with my ambitions and of course the other stuff we're doing and the DA I don't think I could remain sane and still run the quidditch team. Besides I would probably just mess up more as a keeper if I had to concentrate on the entire team so I better stick to that." He then smiled widely before adding, "I'm not the King of Gryffindor for nothing!" At that the three of them laughed. Apparently the last year had bolstered Ron's self esteem significantly. And had also made him a bit more mature then Harry remembered. The boy was certainly becoming the man.

They walked the rest of the way to their common room chatting about quidditch. They then continued to chat about quidditch with Seamus and Dean, with Dean again comparing the sport to muggle soccer. Which Harry understood but Ron still insisted is much too simple to be all that interesting. Time passed and eventually they all went off to lunch.

Lunch was rather uneventful however the Gryffindors were all looking forward to their next class NEWTs Charms with Flitwick. They had heard from the older students that he did a different charm on the first day every year and so that everyone would be surprised. Harry had always liked the small professor, as he had always made his classes more fun then a lot of the other teachers. Not to mention the spells he learned in his Charms classes had always been the most useful to him in any given situation. This was the REAL defense against the dark arts class in his experience.

The NEWTs charms class took place in the sixth year NEWTs Auditorium like their defense against the dark arts class. The auditorium looked essentially the same except that where desks previously were there was a big empty space in the middle and on either side was a set of seats at tables against the wall each a level above the one in front of it much like bleachers might look like if one were to attach tables them. The tables were all facing the center of the room rather than the stage which looked exactly the same. Professor Flitwick was sitting on a broomstick in the center of the room above the same box of pillows that they had used to practice summoning and banishing charms on two years previous. The number of students already in the room was astounding and more continued to come in. It appeared that every single sixth year student was in the class with him meaning there were around forty students total in the class, an unprecedented number considering previous classes of at most half that amount with the exception of the defense against the dark arts class which was almost as large, but that made sense to Harry given the trying times.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Wesley all went to the front of the section where all the Gryffindors were sitting (as expected, the four houses each took a specific corner and grouped together there) Dean and Seamus were sitting behind them. Fred and George were still no where to be seen but Harry was sure they were nearby.

Professor Flitwick wasted no time starting class once everyone was here. "Hello students!" He said in his characteristically happy bouncy manner as he floated above the floor in the room. "Today we will be working on a particularly specialized charm. It is very easy to cast, however it is much harder to control, which is why it is taught at the NEWT level and not before it. I have no doubt that all of you will be able to use the charm on your first try!"

He then lowered the broom picked up a pillow and tossed it to Padma saying. "The charm is called the charm of Alacrity and it is used to incredibly increase or decrease the velocity of existing movement. Allow me to demonstrate, Ms. Patil please banish the pillow towards the wall." Padma did as she was told and as soon as it started professor Flitwick said "_Alacritis_" and the pillow was instantly in a second empty box by the edge of the stage. Harry had barely seen the blur as the Pillow increased to a phenomenal speed. It had stopped dead above the box and fallen into it immediately. The entire class was silent after that intently watching and listening to the professor, obviously eager to try out the charm themselves.

"Now, all of you will need plenty of room to practice this and I have taken the liberty of casting an imperturbable charm over the entire room. Each of you choose a partner. Once you've done that, summon a pillow for your group and get started. As Ms. Patil and I demonstrated, take turns practicing the charm by having one of you banish the pillow towards the wall and the other then use the charm on it. It's really that simple, you might want to cover your ears until everyone gets it down though. Now each of you pair up!" Professor Flitwick flew high above the room after saying that. Students started mingling and forming pairs.

Harry paired himself up with Ron after all he hadn't worked with him yet this term and he figured he would have some time to chat with him in semi private this way. Neville and Hermione paired up at his insistence and as usual Dean paired up with Seamus. Wesley, apparently seeing that all of his dorm mates were already paired up walked over to the Slytherins and paired himself up with Blaise. There was some murmuring from the Gryffindors but honestly after potions this did not surprise Harry at all. Neither Hermione nor Neville seemed to take much note either. Ron of course, was livid.

"What is he doing sitting with him?" He asked Harry under his breath.

"They were assigned partners in Potions." Harry responded lazily not wanting to hear one of Ron's rants about house alliances.

"Still, were not in potions why would…" But Ron was cut off by professor Flitwick and so Harry was spared from Ron's predictable rant.

"Ok class now that you all have a pillow and a partner line up and start to practice as instructed. Again you might want to cover your ears for the beginning part of it anyway." Harry noticed as he said this that Flitwick had Earmuffs on. _Great,_ he thought, _I suppose I should cover my ears then._

Everyone got started. Ron was first to go so Harry banished the pillow to the box as they had been doing since fourth year. Ron immediately said, "_Alacritis_" and the result was rather spectacular. The pillow disappeared with a loud BANG as it fell off of some invisible barrier into the box. The pillow had accelerated to the point of being invisible and looked more like it had apparated to the wall then had crashed into it. A lot more large BANGs could be heard as every other student did roughly the same thing. Padma and Hermione and a few other Ravenclaws managed to not make the sound of the pillow crashing into the wall as loud but not a single person stopped the pillow above the box like Flitwick.

"This is harder than I thought." He roughly heard Hermione say before another line of BANGs were heard throughout the room. He had no better luck then Ron however and managed to continue to break everyone's eardrums. Seamus and Dean were covering their ears as were a large number of other students, from what he had seen neither of them had done any better than he and Ron had. Neville had surprised him by doing almost as well as Hermione. Whatever that wand was it was working a whole lot better for him than his old one did. Lavender and Parvati had not done any better. No one had fared as badly as Wesley however. Everyone else in the room had managed at least to successfully cast the charm, Wesley had not. Harry watched as he spun his wand oddly looking at it tried a different incantation and then eventually just slammed his wand into the pillow. It had disastrous results as the pillow shot towards the wall with the most resounding BANG yet and the pillow blasted apart into a cloud of feathers. Wesley looked around blushing well Blaise just looked amused. Blaise had managed to cast the spell as well as everyone else.

"Well now Mr. Tinderspoon! That was an interesting…" Professor Flitwick cut himself off with a smile. "That wouldn't be a metallic wand now would it?" He asked with a smile.

"Um…if you mean a wand with a strip of metal in it then yes…" Wesley said quite uncomfortably.

"Ah! So?" Flitwick continued his questioning apparently completely forgetting that he had a class to teach.

"Uh…what?" Wesley looked confused.

"And what kind of metal is it? Gold? Silver? Platinum?" Flitwick was getting more and more excited as he continued to barrage Wesley with questions.

"Actually it's Mithril…"

"Mithril! Marvelous! Marvelous! May I see your wand for a second?" Obviously at a loss for words Wesley timidly nodded and handed Flitwick his wand.

"Now I imagine the rest of you are wondering why I am so excited about this wand." Harry was. He didn't see how it was relevant that Wesley's wand had a strip of metal in it. A wand was a wand right?

"You may note that all of your wands are made with something from a magical creature a hair, tail or horn. The reason why is it is now standard procedure in Britain to only make and distribute wands made using magical creatures rather than magical metals because wands made with Metals are a lot harder to control and tend to have…as you saw…much more explosive results unless incredibly controlled. I have been meaning to get a metallic wand as they are incredibly useful to the skilled wizard especially when doing things that require simply a lot of power. They can be controlled however. Padma if you please?" He them motioned to her pillow again. Padma banished the pillow and Flitwick with a strange little spin of Wesley's wand succeeded in using the alacritis charm without the slightest bit of noise. He then passed the wand back to a still blushing Wesley who now also seemed to be looking at his professor in awe before saying, "Now on you go and if you ever need any help with any of your spells using that please feel free to ask!" He said that a little too excitedly as if he wanted Wesley to have trouble so that he could mess with his wand more. Harry was just happy to get back to the class, the wand meaning very little to him.

The rest of the class went very well except of course from everyone's hearing's point of view. By the end of it Padma, Hermione, Malfoy (much to Ron's dismay), and to everybody's surprise, Neville had managed the perfect stop. Everyone else had at least managed to slow it enough to stop the large BANG from resounding the room. Harry was happy to get out of there but wasn't to pleased that he didn't get a chance to talk to Ron. He would have to rectify that at dinner. But that would of course have to wait until his ears stopped ringing. At the moment Neville's wand intrigued him he would have to ask him about it later.

After the class the sixth year Gryffindors all went to the common room (except Hermione of course who had yet another class to attend) and spent the entire time goofing off while trying to study. It was such that Harry didn't get anytime to talk to Ron at all, something he was not happy about in the slightest.

As everyone else walked off towards dinner Harry pulled Ron up to their dorm mostly to buy time for a personal conversation away from the group. When he got there his attention was taken as on his bed with a note attached to it was a firebolt, presumably the one that had been taken from him the previous year. Ron saw it too and smiled. Harry wasted no time running over and picking it up and reading the note.

_I am afraid it took a bit longer to get this then was expected do to Umbridge attempting a final revenge. Unfortunately because of that this is not the same firebolt you have had in previous years. I do not know what happened to that one except that the pieces of it were owled to Dumbledore anonymously with a final note about you._

_Being that I was expecting you to return I immediately started pulling for getting you a new broom and I was happy to find that your class mates were willing to pitch in to get this replacement for you. After all who could resist the chance to win the house cup again? I am sorry if this revelation about your previous broom is troubling as I know how much it meant to you but alas nothing can be done about that._

_I implore that you thank Mr. Longbottom, Mr. Finnigan, Mr. Thomas, Mr. Tinderspoon, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Patil, Ms. Brown and Ms. Granger for this incredible gift. You should also give special thanks to Ms. Granger as asking the other sixth year Gryffindors to help pitch in for the broom was her idea. I hope you choose to accept this gift from your friends and for the sake of your house. Use this as you have used your previous two brooms and I know you will not be disappointed._

_-M. McGonagall_

Harry looked at his friend who was smiling at him. "I know it can't replace the last one but it was the least we could do after the horrible year you had." Ron said sheepishly and a bit reserved like he didn't know what Harry's reaction was going to be.

Harry surprised himself by not getting angry. He felt well rather happy actually. His friends had really gone out on a limb for him this time and it really showed just how close they had become over the last six years. "Thanks." Was all he said and from Ron's smile and nod that was all he had to say.

"So you're gonna get to play quidditch again? That awesome!" Ron started without hesitation once the serene silence had ended.

"Yeah I know I'm kinda surprised actually. After being such a bastard last year I wasn't expecting to be able to play." Harry felt a little down as they started off towards dinner. He had been a real asshole the previous year.

"Right, like McGonagall would give up the best player on the team since Charlie and the chance to watch Snape's team get beaten by a team containing the hated Harry Potter!" Ron said sarcastically, Harry smiled his starting bad mood crushed by his best friend's sarcasm. "She'd kill Umbridge before she did that and I would be one of the first to help her!"

"Here, here!" Harry said while raising his hand as if he had a beer mug. Then they fell into a bit of laughter. "So Ron how was your summer really? I never got a good picture of it."

"Actually other than quidditch it was rather hustled. We were moving around a lot because most of my family members were doing things for the order. Me, Ginny, Fred and George had the house to ourselves a lot more this summer as even mom really began to pitch in." Ron sighed obviously remembering what sounded to Harry like an incredibly hectic summer.

"Can you believe that there was a day when mom didn't come home and make dinner?" Ron asked suddenly.

"Wow…" It must have been hectic if Molly Weasley didn't make it home to make dinner for her family. Harry had never seen nor heard of such a thing in all the time he'd known them.

"But we lived with it dad wasn't home either so we whipped something up. And then when our endeavors ended up destroying half the kitchen rather then making us actual food Ginny simply made some eggs for everyone while me Fred and George cleaned up the kitchen." Ron then sighed but this time he was smiling, reminiscing over the day.

"Of course we managed to miss something so mom found out about it and we got a large lecture about how we could have been hurt or burned the house down or something. You know how mom is, always the one wanting to protect everyone even from themselves."

Harry laughed he knew exactly what Ron meant. If Molly Weasley got it into her head that you needed to be protected then she was going to protect you, whether you liked it or not.

"How about your summer Harry?" Ron asked.

"Well my summer was actually horrible. I was stuck in my room for the first month doing nothing but laying there. All the Dursleys did was give me food and water. They ignored me the rest of the time, which I found to actually be more excruciating then having them yell at me. At least when they were yelling at me I wasn't sitting there doing nothing." Harry stopped and thought about his summer more. Trying to remember anything interesting that had happened besides the obvious, he couldn't think of anything so he continued to the odd second half of it.

"Well…that is until Snape showed up on my doorstep with Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory in tow. It was the furthest thing from what I was expecting, Malfoy in my house? And he was for three whole days before me and Hermione got together to figure out what to do. In the end they ended up staying at Ms. Figg's house while I stayed at my house although I will admit that I spent more time there than at home. Simply put my uncle and aunt didn't care where I was as long as I didn't bother them and it was better hanging out with even Malfoy then with my cousin. Hermione was also there most of the time too, it was usually the five of us." Harry remembered most of that month quite vividly. It had been his needed distraction. As horrible as it may have been a lot of good did come of it. He wasn't sure he would have given many of the people he met this year nearly as much credit had he not realized all that stuff about Malfoy and his former cronies.

"Wow, I almost wish I was there." Ron almost looked sad for a second before he smiled. "But then I realize that I would have had to spend an entire month with Malfoy and I say. Not worth it." Ron smiled, obviously he was a lot less agitated then he used to be. Harry finally saw a great resemblance to Fred and George. Actually when he really thought about it with the exception of Percy and Molly, all the Weasleys had a pretty happy bent to them once you got past the fronts they put up. Fred and George just never really put up a front. What you saw was what you got for good or for ill.

The two of them talked for the remainder of the walk to the great hall where they walked up to where Hermione and Wesley were sitting in their usual positions and sat down.

As soon as they sat down Harry slowly got all his class mates attentions by individually tapping them on the shoulders or saying their names. After he had everyone's attention he said. "Thank you for the new broom stick. I hardly think I deserve it though after how I acted last year. But thanks anyway."

Everyone laughed at this and Harry felt some anger start to rise at that until Dean spoke in a rather serious tone changing the mood of the group instantly. "Don't bother, we all know that you have had tough times here after all you have seen and done things that would affect anyone. I am just glad that you came out of it ok. And besides when split among eight people even the price of a firebolt isn't too much." Dean smiled again returning the mood to a lightened state.

"Besides after how Umbridge treated you last year and the fact that you needed a broom anyway if you were going to help us take the cup from the Slytherins this year. Made it totally worth it." Hermione's smiled as she said this.

Harry looked over at Wesley, "I'm curious what did you have anything to do with this?" He said.

"Actually I didn't really. I just heard about it after the fact a few days ago and decided to pitch in. I just figured it couldn't hurt and if nothing else it made me feel more like part of the group and less like an outsider." He smiled as he said this and it dawned on Harry that that was important not just for Wesley but for all of them. This just proved it. There was something beyond simply being classmates about the Gryffindor sixth years. As different as they were they were all united under one commonality, they were all friends on some level.

Harry smiled before simply changing the subject rather abruptly to something that had been on his mind. He didn't really want this to be drawn out any longer than it needed to be. He had made his thanks and now it was done. "Hey Neville, I was wanting to ask you this before I got distracted by the new firebolt."

Neville looked at him slightly nervously, "Yes?"

"What's with your new wand? You seem rather better with it then your last one." Harry realized how that sounded after it had already came out but Neville cut him off as he was starting to apologize.

"Actually it's not that interesting a story. But I guess it is relevant in an odd sort of way. I was in Ollivander's getting my new wand and I had been in there for over an hour trying out wand after wand after wand some of which exploded in my face and others of which had no effect at all." He was getting ever more nervous as he continued his story.

"Eventually when I thought I would have to go somewhere else to get a wand or maybe just accept that fact that I was never going to be a good wizard and might as well live as a Squib, he got this look in his eye that scared me. It's so weird normally I don't remember much at all beyond specifics but what he said next I can remember almost word for word…

"'Hmm…an interesting possibility. One I might not have considered…' After saying that he went into the back room and brought out this wand, I had never seen a wand like it before but it was getting late and I really wanted to just be done with this as I really wasn't expecting to find a wand I was really good with even if one did work for me. So I just took it from his hand and right there knew it was going to be different. I could feel it in my hands, it felt powerful so I waved it and a small wave of glowing dust fell from the tip before disappearing." Neville then looked straight at Harry before continuing, he looked nervous but also determined.

"He then said to me, 'Curious that this wand would ever find a master as I made it on a whim. It is the most unique wand I have ever made. There is not a single wand in anyone's hands that has been in this store even remotely like it.' I was confused it was obviously different but I wasn't really getting what he was saying." Neville took a deep breath and then looked directly at Harry again before continuing. "He then pulled me into a back room before saying 'This wand is special wand I made 6 years ago on a hunch supplied by a boy. It is curious that this wand would ever find an owner. As it is made not from a standard core…but from a single fallen hair from the head of the "boy who lived"…'" Everyone around them began to stare at Harry and Neville. However Harry didn't even notice because he was thinking of something totally different: _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not...and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies…_ He also remembered what Dumbledore had told him, who that prophecy could have meant: Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom…


	10. Three Truths Revealed

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 10: Three Truths Revealed

Harry hadn't said anything, not for the rest of dinner, not until he was completely alone with his dorm mates. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Fred, George and Wesley just let him be. Harry had made a decision, he would tell Hermione, Neville and Ron the prophecy. He now wanted Hermione and Ron to know so that they could help him in any way they could because he knew he would need such help. Now was not time for pride, last years events had proven that. He felt anger rise but unlike before he let it. He knew what it was and he needed to be able to control it instead of letting it control him as he had all the previous year. At least this time he was successful and the anger turned into resolve to never let anything like what happened last year happen again if he could help it.

Harry informed Hermione that he wanted to meet her in the common room before she went up to her room. She had nodded at him and then went up to her room without batting an eye. They were used to sneaking around late at night. They had been doing it since their first year.

After everyone in his dorm had fallen asleep, he woke up Ron and Neville. Ron was hard to wake but after a bit of prodding he woke up with out much of a squeak. Neville on the other hand woke up with a yelp and Harry had to cover his mouth with his hand in order to stop him from screaming. "Neville it's me, I need to talk to you." He said urgently. Neville's obvious fear began to subside and he nodded. Harry removed his hand and then the three of them walked down to the common room where they found Hermione waiting by the fire. The room was devoid of people other than that.

"Ok why the late night meeting?" Ron asked irritably.

"Yeah and why am I here?" Neville asked. Hermione just waited patiently for him to talk.

"Well I need to tell you something, something important." Harry started. "Last year was not exactly the most pleasant experience for any of us. However you may have noticed that I was even more irritable after we got back from the Department of Mysteries then I was before."

"Well we all noticed but we figured that was do to snuffles…" Hermione trailed off after using Sirius' nickname likely out of habit, Harry flinched at it but rather than making him angry as was expected it simply increased his resolve to do what had to be done.

"Well that was only part of it, a big part but only part. After that whole debacle me and Dumbledore had another chat, and he told me a few things that made me incredibly angry…" Harry thought back on that day for a minute. He had remembered it and felt much anger about it but he realized that he had never really thought about it. When he thought about it his anger had been meaningful but hardly justified. It wasn't just do to that either it was everything that had happened that year. Dumbledore was the center of all his rage, mainly because since he never saw the guy he was a convenient target. But really the anger was at himself and at the universe for making his life hell.

After the pause to think he noticed his friends were waiting expectantly. Ron and Neville looked slightly nervous as if they expected him to explode at them. Hermione whom he had had more contact with over the summer and thus had seen he was getting over the previous year was looking more grave. She knew the news was big if it had come from Dumbledore and made him angry.

Harry continued after a few more moments. "He told me something that I should have told you immediately but I wasn't exactly in the best of minds last year." He started pacing nervously, now that he was getting ready to tell them about the prophecy he didn't know where to start. He figured he could start with an explanation for why he had to stay with his aunt and uncle, the complete unadulterated answer. Ron and Neville's nervousness had subsided to intent curiosity and Hermione still waited patiently but expectant as well.

"He told me that the reason I had to stay with my aunt and uncle was because when my mother died to protect me she created a power in my blood my bonds of family that would protect me from Voldemort but only as long as I lived with my aunt and uncle. According to Dumbledore in order for the spell to work they had to accept me as their family and I have to stay with them for at least four weeks out of the year." Hermione got one of her 'duh I should have figured it out' looks and Ron had a look of understanding as well. Neville just waited.

"There's more, he also told me that the reason he hadn't told me all of this before was because he had grown to love me like a son and the reason he hadn't told me about this was because he didn't want to break my innocence and bring me into the world of adults." The three of them looked at him oddly.

Harry was about to finish his story when Fred, George and Wesley stepped off the stairs. Harry knew he had to finish his story before he lost his resolve. He knew he could trust Fred and George, now Wesley on the other hand he was wary about but he doubted he was a Death Eater and for him it was now or never so he decided to take the risk. Fred obviously wanted to say something but Harry waived them over and motioned for them to listen.

"There was one more thing, the most important one and the reason why I woke you up Neville along with Ron and Hermione." Neville looked at him nervously but Harry saw resolve beneath that nervousness the same resolve he had seen in the DA and at the department of mysteries. "Dumbledore told me the prophecy. It was about a boy who was born at the end of July who would kill the dark lord." Their reactions were immediate. Neville's eyes grew big, obviously noticing the significance of that statement. Ron, Fred and George gaped at Harry while Wesley just sat there watching curiously with a questioning expression on his face. Hermione grew stern silently prompting him to finish. So he did, he told them the prophecy, word for word. "…and that's it." He found that instead of being nerve wracking as he had expected that it had been a load off his body and mind to tell someone else that. He realized then that he had needed to inform them of this in order to tell someone beyond simply wanting them to know. No, he corrected himself, he needed them to know. He needed them to know what he had been going through. He, Ron, and Hermione had been through too much to keep such important secrets form each other. He looked around at the others. Fred and George looked totally awake and quite stern, an expression that Harry knew they had but still thought looked wrong on them. He was not used to the Weasley twins not having smiles on their faces. Wesley looked puzzled and gazed at Harry with a look that asked him what this was all about. He found that the gaze did not make him wary as he had initially thought instead it was piercing in a positive way it broke any walls that would have been between them and made him want to tell the boy what he was silently asking. He knew he would eventually. There was no doubt in his mind that this was a friend to keep close, that all of them were.

There was silence for a while after that. They were all obviously thinking about what had been said there. Ron was staring at Harry in silence. It was a compassionate look that made Harry remember what had made him like the boy to begin with; he had been the first person in the wizarding world to truly see Harry and not just "the boy who lived." Hermione had a similar look but there was a bit more thought behind it. There was consideration and implication in her look, but it comforted him that she was thinking about it. He trusted her intellect exquisitely. It had always been an asset from her solving Snape's protection of the Philosopher's stone to helping him talk to Sirius using Umbridge's office the previous year. Oh things had not always gone according to her plans but they had always gotten through them in one piece. Plus above all else she was the reason of the trio. Without her Harry realized he probably would have died long ago.

He looked at Neville now, the one who could very well have ended up in his position of having to slay Voldemort, and could still end up in that position. Harry did not want to consider the idea that Dumbledore could be wrong but Harry could remember plenty of times in the past where he had been. Dumbledore was a great wizard but Harry was no longer sure of the man behind the magic. It was like Ollivander had said to him about Voldemort his first year, "He did great things… terrible, but great." Dumbledore was not the totally honest and good natured man he had always thought him to be. He had a dark side that Harry himself had witnessed. It had been Dumbledore not Voldemort who had said that there were fates worse then death and that he intended for Voldemort to experience them. His thoughts returned to Neville. How would they have been different had it been him who was chosen? It was pointless to dwell on it because it hadn't happened that way. Neville was a good friend though. Ever since their first year he had been the only one who had noticed their shenanigans and had been the only one to stand up against them when they had started to leave the dorm that day they went to retrieve the Philosopher's stone. In some odd fashion that event and leaving Neville petrified on the floor had formed a lasting bond between the four of them that had continued to exist to this day. Admittedly Neville getting the last ten points required too win the house cup that year and that had raised everybody's connection to him. But for them it was more. As much as it was odd to admit it, Neville had been a part of pretty much every significant outing that he, Ron and Hermione had went on that year. And later he became a good friend.

Fred and George's faces still had the uncharacteristic ferocity in them. That more than anything pointed out the gravity of the situation. Harry or Neville had been destined to destroy the dark lord. However, even though seeing that pointed out the seriousness of the situation it also made him happy he had the twins on his side. He knew they were incredibly powerful wizards when they applied themselves. And often even when they didn't. He also knew that even with their trickster tendencies they would be willing to take any spell for a friend if it came down to that. Harry realized that he was no longer just their little brother's best friend or surrogate younger brother, he was their friend. He didn't know why he didn't see this before since they had freely given him the marauders map as well as used their inventions to make sure he could talk to Sirius and simply to cheer him up when he needed it.

However comforting it was to have all of these people now aware of his plight so he didn't have to keep it alone, Harry was still not really uplifted as much as stabilized where he was. He knew that this wasn't something he wanted or something he thought would give him an edge. These people and others like them would be necessary for him to have any chance against Voldemort and his Death Eaters. They were a requirement not an advantage.

The six of them sat there silently for a bit longer before Hermione realized what time it was and rushed off to bed, but not before shooing the boys in that direction of course. Something that comforted Harry rather than annoying him as it often had before. It was normal, and for that he was grateful.

Tired but happy he had gotten all of that off of his chest, Harry slowly walked up the stairs thinking about the new stronger friendships. His eyes widened at what he found in the dorm room when he opened the door. Seamus Finnigan was gently kissing the cheek of a soundly sleeping Dean Thomas with an obvious longing expression on his face. Almost immediately Ron was heard gasping loudly behind him.

A terrified Seamus was instantly pushed off a very shocked and then angry looking Dean. The two friends looked totally different to him then he had seen them in the past. Seamus was staring around at the rest of the group still with a look of shocked terror. Dean's normally cool demeanor had been shattered to show a rage that no one had seen before. It scared Harry to the core. It was the exact change that he had witnessed in himself over his previous year. For the first time he saw what others had seen of him, and it scared him more then he would have liked to admit. Seamus was also different the strong stubborn young man had become a scared child under his friends gaze. He didn't know how the others were reacting but from the stillness of the room he assumed that they were all just as shocked as he was.

Dean spoke first, "What was that about!?" He yelled in Seamus' face. Seamus entire body pulled in on itself at the accusation. His body language told him everything he needed to know. "You FANCY me!? All this time I thought you were my best friend and you FANCIED me!?" Both accusations caused Seamus to cringe and pull in on himself more. It was obvious to Harry what all of this meant. Seamus' expression was not the fear of the accused. It was the fear of being caught red handed. His body language all but proved Dean's assessment correct.

"I can't believe this!" Dean spat at him again while the five boys watched in silence. "And when you took Lavender to the Yule ball what was that? Or all those times we checked out girls together? Were you were just lying to me then?" Seamus continued to cringe with each accusation. Harry wasn't sure what to do. It was obvious to him what was going on but he had no experience whatsoever to deal with such a situation, so he just stared.

Dean then stormed out of the room towards the common room without looking back. Harry noticed a whole bunch of students both older and younger standing in the hallway who had witnessed at least part of that fight. Some looked scared others disgusted. Harry was certain the yelling had woken them up.

Seamus turned to look at his housemate's with the same look of terror. Wesley, Fred and George tried to get the people in the hallway to go back to bed to no effect. It wasn't until Hermione, Lavender and Parvati showed up and Hermione threatened to hand out detentions that people started heading back to their rooms mumbling and grumbling to themselves.

Silence fell over the sixth year Gryffindors again as they all tried to sort out what had just happened. Seamus had noticeably calmed at the appearance of the girls and Ron had seemed to remember himself at their arrival as well. He still looked incredibly uncomfortable however, and kept making sideways glances at Seamus.

Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati had unreadable looks on their faces but seemed to be standing guard more so than anything else. Like they thought that the boys needed to solve this problem themselves but needed some controlling factors to not get out of hand.

"I…" Seamus started. He then began tearing silently.

"What were you thinking!?" Ron said in yet another angry outburst, "KISSING Dean? What on earth would make you want to kiss him?" Seamus' response spoke wonders to Harry as to why. He didn't really understand the feelings but for the first time he saw the feelings for what they were. They simply were, Seamus HADN'T been thinking or he would have never done it. Harry remembered his experience with Cho the previous year under the mistletoe. He probably wouldn't have kissed her if it weren't for it but he also hadn't had five years of built up feelings either. The point was that he wasn't thinking there in fact thought as he would generally experience it was almost actively being pushed out of his mind then.

"I…" Seamus said again, and his expression of defeat said more then any words he could have replaced it with. Ron didn't seem to get it, not that Harry expected him to. Ron could be very dense sometimes and didn't really know what it was like to be different from everyone else, an outcast as it were. Harry understood it well. Even after going to Hogwarts he always felt a little different because of his past.

Harry also had never bought into the whole queer issue. He never had any friends to support it as being bad and his uncle and aunt were not to be trusted to say what is normal since to them normal was so narrow that almost no one fit their definition, including Harry himself. Anything they thought abnormal deserved more thought before a conclusion could be made. He still saw Seamus as Seamus and frankly with everything that was going on with him lately he didn't have time or energy to think of him as anything else.

"I'll just go and talk to Ms. McGonagall about this maybe I can find a new room or something." Seamus looked forlorn and a bit mad as well. But it was inwardly directed anger suddenly Seamus' reluctance to do the occlumency lessons made a lot more sense. He did have a secret that he didn't want to share.

"Don't bother." George said, "People will just have to deal."

Seamus was still reluctant but he stopped and went and sat on his bed. Ron looked a bit frazzled and still a lot uncomfortable. Dean had yet to return. Neville looked a bit uncomfortable as did Fred. Harry didn't really care and it looked like George didn't either. Wesley's expression was mostly unreadable.

Hermione spoke up then "I see everything is ok here but I wouldn't stop worrying though. After all most of Gryffindor knows now and I assume that with how much the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs talk it will be all over school by tomorrow."

Harry had then just realized that Hermione hadn't been surprised at all, like she had already known. Seamus seemed to notice that too. "Huh? How can you be so calm?" Ron was obviously not quite thinking straight considering it was Hermione.

"Well we have known for ages. I figured it out watching Seamus look at Dean in his first few years." Hermione as usual acted as if it was obvious.

"Yeah and I figured it out after the Yule ball. He just didn't really seem that interested in me there." She looked at Seamus, "You kept looking at Dean and a few others longingly while you thought I wasn't paying attention. I had my suspicions then and then I asked Hermione as she always seemed to know these things and she confirmed it for me." Lavender seemed nonplussed as she said this. It really had been apparent to the girls for a long time.

"I was told by Padma who had learned it while studying with Hermione and the topic randomly came up." Parvati said. "I then confirmed it with Hermione and Lavender last year."

Seamus looked stunned. "I was that obvious?"

"Well I wouldn't say that. The whole school obviously didn't know because you'd be having a hard time of that. But I bet a few of the Ravenclaws and the smarter Slytherins know though." Hermione looked at the rest of the room then at a now much more nervous Seamus, "Are you okay?" Her face turned from fact mode to compassion in a split second. Seamus shivered but just nodded.

"He'll be fine." Wesley spoke up then walked over say on Seamus' bed and threw his arm over his shoulder in a friendly gesture that was almost amusing as Seamus was notably taller than him. "I won't let anyone do anything stupid to you." Harry concurred and so he just nodded in Seamus' direction. Seamus nodded back obviously a lot less worried now. He had what he needed, his friends. Harry realized that tonight could be a night of breaking friendships or a night of building them. For him this was more then a simple teenage squabble. It was forming bonds which could and would save his life at some point. He knew it, he didn't really know how but he did.

Ron still looked incredibly uncomfortable, and kept glancing in Seamus' direction nervously. Fred and George were whispering to each other with Fred looking at Seamus much like Ron, it was obvious form their expressions that George was in some way pacifying his brother. Neville looked nervous but kept silent the entire time silently watching everything that was going on. Hermione, Parvati and Lavender left to go back to their dorm rooms after being sure that nothing was going to happen. Seamus was worried about Dean but Harry was certain Dean would come around. After all they had been best friends for the previous five years. Real friendships don't break up over simple squabbles.

After the drama of the evening everyone was happy to fall asleep. Harry was happy to not have any dreams that night. The last thing he needed then was a prophetic dream that he couldn't make heads or tails of.

The next morning was almost the same as every other morning with the new dorm set up a chaotic rush to get everyone together and ready for breakfast on time. The only thing different that made it worse by the fact that only Harry, George and after some coercion from his brother, Fred were willing to shower with Seamus. Dean had gotten in sometime after they had all gone to sleep and he completely ignored Seamus, in fact he completely ignored the rest of the dorm and was the first person out the door to breakfast. Harry and Wesley as usual were thrown around a lot do to their size. But they all managed to get themselves together on time as they had the previous days. All six of the remaining boys started walking towards the great hall for breakfast together, although Ron and Fred reluctantly and Neville was still nervous but didn't falter.

As soon as they were out of their dorm changes in the demeanor of the students were obvious. The few students in the common room that were either skipping or waiting for others to go to breakfast in the common room looked at the sixth year boys with disdain and often immediately started whispering and laughing to themselves as they were leaving. Harry noticed that Seamus would freeze up whenever they got near anyone and then remain that way until they were well out of earshot. The Gryffindor students that they met in the hallway reacted pretty much the same way as well as a few of the Hufflepuffs that were talking with them.

The intensity of the situation was not fully discovered by them until they entered the great hall. As soon as they entered the chatting at the Gryffindor table immediately stopped for a second and then continued in whispers with people glancing at the group every so often. There were a few murmurs at the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables as well. Oddly the Slytherins didn't react at all they didn't really seem to care.

The group took their main spot next to Hermione, but Dean had sat all the way on the end of the table near some rather secretive seventh years that were still whispering and glancing over every so often. Harry was not sure if it was a good thing or not but where Dean normally sat next to Seamus was a very excited looking Dennis Creevy (not that there was ever a time when the Creevy brothers DIDN'T look exited).

"Hello!" He said merrily. It was odd not seeing Colin with him but he was sitting on the a few feet away whispering with another group. This in of itself was odd; Harry had never seen Colin talk any softer than a yell. Dennis on the other hand seemed quite normal. Actually he seemed different then he was when he was with Colin. He seemed to follow his brother around and act like him whenever they were together. But now he noticed a mischievous glint that Colin didn't seem to have. A memory of him saying something about falling into the Lake being Brilliant came to him. The fact that he was a third year addressing sixth years like they were best friends was not lost on him either.

"Hi." Harry responded to the energetic boy.

Dennis looked over at Colin and then lowered his voice. "I heard about what happened last night." He looked up at Seamus. "I just want you to know that you have the third year boy's support. I made sure of that." He then looked at Harry. "Besides hanging out with Colin was getting to be such a bore. His hero worship of you was cute for a while but now it makes him look rather pitiful. My brother has always been easily excitable though and has a tendency to break down if anyone who he really trusts says anything contrary to what he thinks so I play along when I'm with him." Harry was very relieved to hear this. He had thought that Colin had managed to convince his brother of Harry's perfection. When really it had just been Dennis playing along for his brothers benefit. Why he had chosen now he didn't really know but he suspected that it was because Colin wasn't taking the news about Seamus as well as Dennis had.

"Well, I've got to get back to my friends. Oh and Harry see ya tomorrow at the Quidditch tryouts!" Before Harry could respond Dennis had jumped out of his chair and quite hyperactively rushed over to a group of third years where he immediately started chatting quite loudly.

Harry was about to walk over and ask Dennis what he was trying out for but Hermione grabbed his arm and pulled him out alongside the other sixth year Gryffindors muttering about Professor McGonagall having a fit if all her house' students were late to her first transfiguration class.

NEWTs transfiguration took place in the sixth year Auditorium like the Charms and defense against the Dark Arts. Again however the seating arrangement looked completely different. Instead of the single desks or the bleacher like side tables there were two rows of long thin tables all of which had individual chars set up in an organized even fashion. Harry noticed as expected that there were a large number of students in the class however it was not quite as many as in the charms or defense classes. Also as expected the students had already taken their places in the room with the Ravenclaws at the front of the room with an empty spot presumably for the arriving Gryffindors. The Hufflepuffs were behind the empty spot left for the Gryffindors while the Slytherins, it seemed every last sixth year Slytherin was taking the class, were behind the Ravenclaws.

Harry, Hermione, Wesley, Ron and Seamus took the first row. Dean, Fred, George, Parvati, Neville and Lavender took the row behind them. Dean noticeably took the furthest possible seat without sitting next to a Hufflepuff that he could from Seamus. Harry also noticed that Seamus was still getting a lot of stares from random students around the room. Ron and Fred were still noticeably uncomfortable as the stares wandered over the entire Gryffindor section. Harry was incredibly relieved when Professor McGonagall walked into the room and took her place at the front of the class. She took absolutely no notice of Seamus or the stares the other students were giving him. She simply cleared her voice like she always did and started class.

"Now I am not going to baby any of you this is a NEWT level class and I expect you all to act accordingly." Harry was not surprised that these were the first words out of her mouth. After all she was known for being a very stern professor. Although most of the students still liked her because she was at least fair and everyone knew she was a great witch. All the students who had not gotten their stuff ready for class did so immediately. Professor McGonagall said nothing simply waited for everyone to finish to start class. She was obviously in a no nonsense mood and so everyone was ready within moments.

"To day we are not doing anything new because you are just back form a long vacation and must have full ability with the OWL material in order to succeed and NEWT level spells at all. For that reason we are going to go over everything we have done in previous years. I have provided everything you need, work for no more than ten minutes on any one spell but make sure that you complete the spell as intended at least once. Now hurry and get started."

The remainder of the class was hectic and Harry found himself working immensely hard to get all the spells right. He had barely been able to do many of them when they had learned them and now to be forced to do them after a summer of no practice and in only ten minutes was difficult. Harry wasn't doing the worst however, neither was Neville as Harry might have thought. Although with how skilled he seemed with his new wand Harry wasn't surprised in the least bit at this.

Wesley was the one who McGonagall kept picking on despite all his insistence that he was horrible at transfiguration. He was very quickly showing everyone in the room how correct his assessment was. Instead of vanishing the snail as they were supposed to do he ended up multiplying it. If McGonagall hadn't been watching him at the time they would have likely overridden the entire table maybe even the entire Auditorium. He then transfigured his rat from a rat into a mouse instead of a pin cushion. Ron and Hermione were the only people who noticed that there had been any change at all aside from Professor McGonagall herself. He hadn't even noticed until it until Hermione pointed it out. It continued like this with Wesley becoming more and more embarrassed at his total lack of anything in the department of transfiguration. Professor McGonagall wasn't particularly helping as she kept insisting that he should have immense talent in the subject. Why she would assume this was anyone's guess.

At one point she took Wesley's wand from him and handed him hers talking about silly Americans and their unpredictable wands. That proved to be a mistake as he seemed even less able with her wand then with his. She continued to have him use other student's wands (much to their dismay) to little or no effect and eventually she gave up trying other wands handed him his wand back and lectured him about not trying hard enough. Harry had never seen Professor McGonagall concentrate on one student nor react to failure like that. Harry was even more surprised when she flat out refused to let him switch to another NEWT upon asking. She said she would bring out his inner talent if it killed her. Being his head of house and thus the one he would have to go to about switching classes he was out of luck.

Somehow despite her constant attention to Wesley she still managed to critique the other students and attempt at least to make everyone do the majority of the spells correctly. With the exception of the Ravenclaws Neville and Hermione, no one did. However most people had at least managed to get the spells close enough to avoid a lecture and at the end all they got was a short. "I am unimpressed with you all. You all should have been more prepared for this class!" She looked directly at the group of Gryffindors with very stern narrow eyes as she said this. "You will all write me a foot long note about the use and affect of each an every spell that you have learned up to this point! Now off with you!"

"A foot for every spell!?" Ron exclaimed as the Gryffindors left the room. "That's gotta be…" Ron stopped and silently counted them in his head. The fact that he hadn't stopped once they were interrupted said wonders for how much work Professor McGonagall had just assigned.

"Lion feh!" Malfoy's voice was heard as he exited the Auditorium. "With the way you Gryffindors complain I'd say more like kitten. No wonder McGonagall is always such a prude! After having to deal with the likes of you all anyone would be." He then scoffed at them with his normal smirk before saying. "Let's go before Weasel here blows a gasket. After all he may miss the litter box and I wouldn't want to be around to see that." Harry and Hermione grabbed Ron to stop him from pouncing on Malfoy. But with his shear size it took Neville's help to finally keep him in line.

"You can't tell me that had no effect on you whatsoever! He just called us a bunch of kittens!" Ron's body was seething with anger as he stared down at his smaller friends. Harry didn't know how to respond. The truth was it hadn't affected him much. Malfoy had attempted much worse things that kitten that summer in attempts to rile them up.

"Will you grow up!" Hermione said straight into Ron's face. "That wasn't even that bad. Honestly one of these days he is going to say 'hi' and you're going to kill him!"

"Yeah well he'd deserve it!" Ron was still angry and obviously not thinking straight.

"Just, don't do anything stupid." Hermione's tone changed in what was obviously a final attempt to add some reason to Ron's thought process before rushing off towards her next class.

"Maybe he should stop being stupid and mind his own business!" Ron said under his breath before he stomped off towards the common room. Part of Harry wanted to follow him but the better part of him knew that that would not help the situation any. Ron already knew his position and rubbing it in would do nothing to help. This was a problem his friend needed to solve alone.

Everyone there was silent for a bit before Wesley spoke up. "I see what you mean about Malfoy. If all the Slytherins acted like that towards me I would despise them too." He said calmly, as if the entire scene were a part of a movie and had not just actually happened.

"Well I see what Ron is mad about I agree with Harry and Hermione." Padma said, "I don't see how sinking down to that git's level will solve anything." Lavender and Neville nodded in agreement. Seamus obviously wanted to rebuttal this but he had his own things to worry about at the moment and Harry was sure he was surprised that they were hanging out with him at all. He obviously didn't want to make waves in the one group that was still treating him more or less the same. Well besides the Slytherins but that wasn't exactly a good thing. Dean chose that moment to walk out of the room where he had been finishing up a conversation with McGonagall and his complete ignorance of the entire group spoke wonders about Seamus' predicament.

"Honestly I think we should get to the Library to work on our reports." Wesley said with a forlorn look on his face. "I hope you'll all help me with mine as I haven't got the faintest idea what she wants out of a report. I know the technicalities of most of the things we did in there. Well that you did and I failed miserably at. But as for the practicalities or what she taught you I am lost. As you can see she doesn't seem to think that I am serious or something."

Fred walked up to them at that point. "Study! Blasphemy!" he said before grabbing Wesley in a headlock. Wesley was significantly frailer than Fred and so when George walked up after him he was still in the headlock. He hadn't even bothered to resist obviously quite aware that he was at the bigger boy's mercy.

"Hey George, could you tell your brother to let me go before I pass out?" Wesley wheezed through the lock. At that Fred let him go. Wesley immediately stopped wheezing and smiled, "Gets em every time!" He said before promptly standing behind Seamus. Fred laughed before his face formed that mischievous smile as he very obviously started planning his revenge against the smaller boy for ending his fun.

"To the library?" Harry asked the group in general ignoring Fred's shenanigans even though he was quite amused by them.

"Yeah, and don't worry Wes, I'll help you." Seamus said. Apparently he remembered that Wesley was the one to break the tension the night before. He was ever so slowly returning to his more merry self.

Harry only hoped Ron could return to something resembling his friend again. The Ron he remembered was impulsive and prone to anger yes but he hadn't really been violent until more recently. While he generally preferred the more adult Ron he had for a friend now he wished he could convince him that sometimes thought was the better part of valor.

As the group headed down to the library Harry noticed most if not all the people they passed were snickering at them and saying things under their breaths. The group's good mood would have been all but destroyed if it weren't for Wesley and Fred. Fred was trying to grab Wesley again and Wesley was dancing around Seamus merrily keeping the larger boy between them. Seamus seemed happy to take part in this childish game. It was a nice distraction from what was going on around them.

The library was exactly as Harry remembered it. Full of Ravenclaws and other people who were studying and had not time to worry about who was being teased for what. It was a nice refuge considering the morning. They found a place to sit and spent the entire rest of the morning working on their reports.

At one point Ron came in and silently apologized to Harry for his outburst. He then started working on his essays with them.

Lunch was rather mellow that day although Seamus still got stares from quite a few people. Since none of the Gryffindors but Hermione had class that afternoon. They all headed back to the library at Wesley and Parvati's request to finish their assignments, which they all miraculously managed to do before dinner.

Dinner was much like lunch and before he knew it he, Ron, Hermione, and Seamus (who had decided to come to it after all) were walking towards Professor Saren's room for their occlumency lesson.

Harry, having been to only one Psionics class with the professor where they had been taught essentially nothing, had very little idea what to expect from the man. Hermione looked rather intrigued and thoughtful. Ron looked nervous and kept looking at Seamus. Seamus seemed rather nervous but also didn't acknowledge Ron's attention in the slightest.

The room looked essentially the same when they walked into it and Harry was slightly disappointed. The only real difference was that the colored pillows were against the back wall instead of arranged on the floor and that instead of hovering above the floor meditating as he had been before, Professor Saren was standing by a pensieve facing the door.

"Hello, I see you decided to come after all Seamus. Although considering the circumstances you don't have any more reason not to be here. Am I right?" Professor Saren's voice was incredibly calm almost soothing as he said this.

"I suppose not," Seamus started.

Saren then moved his head over the four of them as if gazing at them. "I see that nervousness at recent revelations is a possible issue here but that is essentially irrelevant as nervousness can be just as good as it can be bad. The real question is the question of trust. Do you four all trust each other enough to give each other the possibility of unrestricted access to each other's deepest thoughts?" Saren's voice remained soothing but had a sternness to it that made the question seem very serious. "Because I have considered Dumbledore's request and have come to the conclusion after meeting you that it should be you're decision not his who does what when. I will still instruct you in occlumency. But now is the time to decide whether it will be together or on a one on one basis. I highly recommend that if you do trust each other enough that you do it together. It will be a much better experience and you will not risk having me see into your deepest thoughts as readily." He did not smile, and his voice did not falter the entire time. Harry was certain this could easily be the most important decision he made this entire year.

The others were deep in thought as well. Hermione was seriously considering the options, it was obvious she wanted to be completely sure of her decision. Ron kept nervously looking at Seamus while obviously thinking to himself. Seamus was equally nervous noticing Ron's constant glancing. Harry realized that ha had made his decision. It was up to everyone else now to either agree or not. "I for one would rather do it together. I think it would be better if we could all help each other through this and if we do it together then we will have people who we know are safe to practice with outside of class."

Hermione immediately responded after Harry. "I agree. I trust you enough, and even if I don't now is not the time to worry about it." Harry could see the logic in that, whatever happened it was likely that they would all be forced to trust each other soon because of Voldemort.

"I would like to learn occlumency…" Seamus started, "and I want to learn it with you guys but if you don't want me here…" He trailed off and looked at Ron the only person here yet to respond.

"I would too." He looked at Seamus nervously again. "Yeah, I trust you guys. I won't lie and say I'm not a bit odded out by the whole situation but I don't think it's a matter of trust." Both Ron and Seamus visibly relaxed after that statement.

"I expected as much." Saren said with a quaint smirk. Then his smirk disappeared into a very grave serious expression before he started talking again in a much more serious much less soothing tone. "Then I have something to show you, all four of you. If you were all working apart then this would really only be relevant to Harry. But as it stands it is relevant to you all because it is relevant to him." He then sat down next to the pensieve ob the floor. "Professor Dumbledore also thinks it is more prudent to show more than just one of you this memory. It will hopefully allow the wounds it may cause to heal faster. I will not lie to you and say it is a good memory or that it won't hurt any of you. But since you will be practicing legillimency to use on each other and because it is important to understand what you are defending yourself against, it is important that anything that could truly cause a rift between us get out in the open now so we can deal with it before we start training."

With that he waved his hand over the pensieve and said. "I will not be following you. Watch and you will see why I warned you. It may bring forth some revelations you are not prepared to face." He looked at Harry again. "You must face them or you will never master occlumency nor will you have any chance against what's to come." He then pushed the pensieve towards the now suitably spooked students. Harry decided it was now or never and so dove right into it nose first as he had learned on previous years. He felt the familiar sensation of falling through icy cold blackness.

Harry found himself on an empty Platform nine and three quarters complete with the Hogwarts express, although it was not puffing out smoke in fact it was obvious that the memory was in some sort of still as a puff of smoke was hovering over the engine's smokestack as if it had just come out and was beginning to dissipate. Hermione appeared on the platform a few seconds after he did followed by Seamus and finally Ron. They all looked at each other surprised.

"That was amazing." Hermione said. "Nothing like what I imagined from reading about it." Harry knew she was talking about the trip into the memory, he didn't care all that much he was more curious as to why they were at a frozen platform nine and three quarters.

As if to answer his question the memory started moving. Ron was startled as people started entering the platform form the wall between platforms nine and ten. "You can't talk to them." Hermione said, "They are simply memories." She then moved to the corner of the platform and motioned them over. Harry knew what she was doing. They could see better from there.

Harry wondered what they were here for more until he saw a very young boy. He looked about the age of eight and yet he was lugging around a full trunk as if he were going to Hogwarts as a first year. Harry wasn't sure whether this was of any importance at all, but it was the only thing that stood out to him about the memory and so he decided to watch and see what happened. He glanced at his friends and they seemed to be watching the same boy. He quickly returned his gaze to the boy not wanting to miss anything.

Harry wasn't sure why but the boy seemed familiar to him. He had shiny jet black hair and bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle. His hair was cut short except for his bangs which hung almost over his eyes. He had a toned build for an eight year old and he seemed to be having more trouble with the awkwardness of the sheer size of the trunk rather than the weight as he wasn't panting or showing any signs of being tired simply shifting around a lot, it looked like he was trying to get a better grip.

That was when an older looking boy walked up to him. He looked about ten or eleven the more expected age for a Hogwarts student. He had black hair much like the younger boy and had dark eyes. His hair was short and he had a slightly hooked nose. It looked to Harry like a younger version of Snape but he couldn't believe that because the boy seemed very happy completely devoid of the scowl that now more than anything else defined his professor.

"You look a bit young to be here?" The older looking boy said to the younger looking boy. It wasn't in a mean spirited tone simply a curious one.

"I get that a lot." Was all the boy said. He seemed rather timid, but his voice had a soothing tone to it that made Harry wonder if this was in fact the man whose memory he was in. It seemed so odd though. The boy had a completely different demeanor then the man sitting on the floor in the room with the pensieve. The man was strong and the boy was not. Also the fact that the boy could see and the man couldn't also dawned on him.

"Oh ok, obviously you are going to school so I suppose it doesn't really matter how old you are." The older boy then turned towards the younger one. "Need help with that?" He asked sincerely. He was lugging around a much smaller trunk that was obviously enlarged inside as it could not possibly hold all the things a first year would need. That would imply that he was from a wizarding family and a rather prominent one at that considering the quality of his clothing and the trunk itself.

"Thanks." The younger boy said timidly yet politely. He seemed intimidated by the older and bigger boy. Harry wasn't at all surprised by this, even though the older boy was hardly intimidating.

"You're welcome, I'm Severus." The older boy said and held his hand out towards the younger one.

"Leon." The younger boy said and then smiled. The picture then stopped with them shaking hands.

Harry was totally stunned and it seemed like he was not the only one. "That's Snape and Saren?" Harry exclaimed just then remembering that Saren's first name was Leon.

"It appears so." Hermione said with a very intrigued look on her face.

"It can't be…" Ron said, "The Snape we know would never act so happy nor offer his help to someone without an ultimatum or at least a sneer." Harry had to agree. The only thing about the boy that was remotely Snape like was his hooked shaped nose.

Seamus didn't say anything but he looked just as confused as everyone else.

"Shh!" Hermione shushed Harry and Ron. Harry was about to protest not being finished with his thoughts on Snape when he realized why she had stopped them. The memory had started again.

Severus and Leon carried Leon's Trunk onto the train. Then the scene changed and Harry felt the icy blackness again. They were on a car on the Hogwarts express and Severus and Leon were carrying Leon's trunk obviously looking for a place to sit. Another very familiar boy's voice was heard from a nearby compartment as it opened. "Hey! You a first year too?" The voice asked Severus.

"Yeah." Severus responded while Leon remained silent.

"And whose that your little brother? Helping you carry on your stuff?" Another familiar voice with a much more dangerous gleam to it came from the same compartment.

"No actually he's a first year too. I wouldn't have believed it myself had I not seen him come onto the platform himself holding this." Severus motioned towards the trunk.

"Ok so you're like some eight year old prodigy or something?" The dangerous voice said in an amused tone.

"No, I'm eleven I just look really young for my age." Leon was still a bit timid but it looked like Severus was having a bolstering effect on him. Harry thought that odd although that would explain why his two professors knew each other and why Snape actually bothered not only talking to him but being civil with him at that.

"Hmm, interesting any reason why?" A third familiar boy's voice which sounded a bit more mature and thoughtful than the other two came out of the room. It also sounded slightly sickly or at the very least tired. Harry was not sure at all but the names attached to these voices were just outside the reaches of his mind. That and if these were people he knew they would be a lot older now.

"I don't know I just do I always have." Leon was obviously trying to sound a lot cooler about the situation then he actually was. No one that Harry could see seemed to notice.

"Well what are you waiting there for? There is plenty of room in here for two more." The first voice said and then a very familiar head poked its way out into the corridor and into the hall. Harry heard three other gasps and then a noise of recognition from Hermione. The boy looked almost exactly like Harry had looked like at that age except for a lack of a lightning scar and blue instead of green eyes.

Harry was stunned. If in fact this was Severus Snape and that was in fact his father James. And he could see not other two people that they could be, especially considering the name's given so far. Then why did they become enemies? Harry walked over and looked into the compartment only to be confused more. There was almost no mistake. He was looking at the eleven year old forms of the marauders. The boy and obvious owner of the mature tired voice was the splitting image of the man he would become, simply with less facial hair and more baby fat. But all the other features were the same. Hair color, eye color, facial structure…It was almost like looking at a miniaturized version of the man and not simply a younger one. Sirius Black was also there the owner of the more dangerous sounding voice. He still had the same hair and the same mischievous smile. But he looked much healthier not having had his stay at Azkaban yet. He also looked a lot meaner than the man he knew. He felt a slight bit of anger at this but he realized that the boy didn't make him as angry as the man. All his memories of the boy were of a chauvinistic bastard. He almost didn't see how the boy could become the man he had grown to love. Then again this whole memory was painting a very different picture of his father's youth than he had originally thought.

"I'm James." The boy said confirming what Harry already knew.

"Severus," Severus said extending a hand.

"I'm Remus." The younger Lupin said a tired, wary but at the same time happy smile plastered on his face.

"Sirius…" The boy with the dangerous voice said. And there it was the marauders were confirmed.

"What about you kid?" Sirius asked.

"I'm Leon." The boy said and then the five of them started chatting away. Harry couldn't tell what about because the scene began fast forwarding like a movie in a muggle VCR might.

"Snape met the Marauders on the train and they were friendly to each other?" Ron was totally perplexed at this. Seamus looked totally lost. Not that Harry would expect him to know anything about them.

"Let's just watch." Hermione said while intently watching the speeding memories. "It's not finished yet and we won't know what this is really about until it's done." Harry decided that Hermione was correct. This was only part of a much bigger picture. That was plainly obvious.

The scene slowed down near the end of the trip. "So, friends then?" Severus asked the others happily.

"I don't see why not? After all it seems like we will all be placed in the same house." Remus said.

"And if were not?" Leon spoke up timidly.

"Doesn't matter really does it?" Sirius said. "As long as were not in Slytherin. My cousin Lucius is in Slytherin and he is a real git." He then smiled and looked at the remaining people in the car before saying. "Not to mention the very likely rumor that You Know Who was in that house."

Severus looked rather spooked at this as did Leon. Harry wasn't sure but he thought they had known that they would likely be sorted into Slytherin before they had even started school. They were both obviously from wizarding families. They knew too much about what was going on to not be. Harry remembered his time on the train he hadn't even understood what the houses were let alone who was in them.

James then said something that Harry knew was going to be their downfall eh just knew it. "Let us pledge then to give the Slytherins as much hell as we can. In the name of all that is good and mighty!" It sounded all nice and childish but Harry knew exactly where this was leading. A dark thought began to form, if this was at all accurate than the rivalry between Severus and James was not a rivalry at all but a betrayal.

The five of them put their hands in the circle, Leon, Severus and surprisingly Remus looked nervous at the idea. After that the memory ended and the icy blackness passed again depositing them in the great hall which looked pretty much the same as it always did. The Slytherin colors lined the hall and a much younger looking Minerva McGonagall was leading the new students into the room with a hop to her step that made Harry realize just how old she must be. Hagrid looked pretty much exactly the same as did the stool and the hat that McGonagall put in the middle of the stage.

The scene didn't start at normal speed until she started reading off names. "Black, Sirius" was the first name the memory showed. The hat took a long while deciding and Harry noticed a nervous tinge in the boy's body. In the end it yelled out "GRYFFINDOR!" as he knew it would.

Fast forwarding to another name Harry did not expect where it landed. "Evans, Lily," she unlike the others was almost instantaneously put in her house with a resounding "GRYFFINDOR!" Harry wasn't sure what relevance this had but he was too busy trying to pay attention to what was going on to really notice. It didn't seem nearly as relevant to the scene as the sorting of his father and his friends.

The scene fast forwarded again skipping names until it stopped and McGonagall said, "Lupin, Remus." Remus walked up to the chair more tired than anything else. _The moon must have been almost full that night._ Harry thought as he remembered how his instructor had gotten as the full moon neared. This time the hat took a lot less time but it wasn't instantaneous before it also yelled out. "GRYFFINDOR!" This time he looked towards the rest of the first years. He noticed immediately that both Leon and Severus were looking agitated as their fiends were being put into the most anti-Slytherin of houses. It was ever more apparent that they were expecting to be put into the house that they themselves had just sworn to help destroy. Not exactly the smartest idea but he probably would have done the same thing in their place.

The scene then raced slightly forward to the next important sorting. "Potter, James." McGonagall's voice seemed louder and more accusatory to Harry then the others had. He thought that was part of his imagination. The hat took almost as long as it had with Sirius before yelling "GRYFFINDOR!" as Harry knew it would. James looked totally spooked after that. Harry guessed that he had been highly considered for Slytherin just like he had been and he would guess Sirius had been as well. Harry noticed that a small round student who looked quite a bit like Peter Pettigrew. Of course he wouldn't be relevant to Saren's story though simply to Harry's.

"Saren, Leon." McGonagall's voice snapped Harry out of his thoughts as he watched the sorting of his future professor. It took a long time to sort the boy but in the end the hat yelled "SLYTHERIN!" Harry immediately looked at the Gryffindor table. James and Sirius had angry looks on their faces. Leon walked over to the Slytherin table quite timidly. Harry noticed a boy who looked quite a lot like Draco but with much longer hair sitting among the older students. Harry wanted to kill him right there so he couldn't do the things he did. But he could not affect the memory in any way and so just stood there watching and seething in his anger at the events he was witnessing but could do nothing about.

Severus was sorted immediately after Leon was so there was no speeding of the memory. "Snape, Severus," was followed by a long period of time and a yelled "SLYTHERIN!" Harry stared at his father and his friends. Remus looked forlorn but Sirius and James looked even more pissed than they looked before.

Harry was not sure who he was mad at right now. He knew what he was seeing had to be real. But it made him wonder who to really be angry with. He felt the scene switch again and the icy blackness actually calmed his nerves. Apparently there was more.

The next scene was incredibly different then the last. It was Leon walking through the courtyard reading a book of some sort. Harry wasn't sure what importance this had but it was obvious and apparent in a few seconds. A spell flew out of a side hallway to the courtyard and hit Leon smack in the chest. He began laughing incredibly hard and that was when Harry recognized the curse as the tickling curse. Then Sirius and James ran out of the side door laughing at the laughing boy and saying things to him that made no sense to Harry.

"You think we wouldn't find out? That you are a twilight walker? A blood taster?" Sirius said as he circled the still laughing Leon. Harry notices Leon was trying to say something but he couldn't speak through the laughing. Harry then noticed that Leon was wheezing thought the laugh. Harry didn't know what the long term effects of the curse were. Malfoy had been freed from it too quickly for him to know. It became painfully obvious to Harry that the long term effects were exactly what the effects of actually laughing that long, death by asphyxiation.

Harry watched as James and Sirius watched Leon literally choke on his own laughter. Suddenly he heard Severus voice say "_finite incantatem!_" Before the boy ran out and stood between Sirius and Leon who was now panting for the air he had lost in his curse induced laughing fit.

Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye Lily Evans who quickly ran off down the hall. But he wanted to see where this was leading. His mother was obviously apart of this but if he had learned anything from his previous experiences with pensieves it was that the memory leads the watcher not the other way around. If she was that important to the events she would have been there. He was happy that she did not take part in this though. And it looked from the expression on her face that she was appalled at this. Obviously she had reasons to dislike James. Harry still did not understand why they had gotten together. Although he supposed that part of him should be thankful they did or he himself would not exist.

The day ended without a duel or anything when Lily returned with Professor McGonagall who shoed off the students besides Leon whom she quickly took to the infirmary.

The scene then fast forwarded through Severus doing lots of library research. Harry couldn't see what the books were but it was obviously important. He noticed Hermione's mind racing. No doubt she knew exactly what he was doing.

The icy feeling returned as blackness engulfed them and Harry instantly recognized the room they were in. It was the room that Saren's psionics class was in. It looked exactly the same as it did in his time with the exception of Saren's colored pillows right down to the tapestry on the wall. Harry was startled by the entry of Sirius, Severus, James, and a person who Harry barely recognized as the younger version of the Death eater Avery.

Harry watched as James and Severus stared each other down before bringing their wands to the ready. "They are going to duel." Harry heard Ron and Seamus say at the same time under their breaths. No one noticed this as they were too engulfed by the scene.

Harry was lost he couldn't feel anything he was really confused as to what he felt at the moment. He knew he felt something and that it was rather strong but he had no idea what that emotion actually was.

Sirius and Avery, obviously James and Severus' seconds got their wands ready too. What happened next was a complete surprise. Severus and James struck at the same time, with exactly the same curse. A curse designed to blind their opponent. Harry watched as the scene almost played out in slow motion. Leon jumped out of a shadow where he had previously been completely hidden and jumped between the two a split second before the curses hit. He took a direct hit from both curses simultaneously and then the entire memory disappeared. It hadn't gone black or dark as Harry had expected it simply had no sight at all. It was an experience that he doubted he would ever experience again nor be able to explain after he was done. He simply could not see. He heard what was going on though quite vividly.

"Look what you made me do! Now Dumbledore is going to kill us." James voice was agitated.

"God is that all you can think about there is a person here that we just blinded!" Severus sounded more worried about Leon than anything else.

"Oh cut the fuss he's a Dhampyr anyway! It's not like he really needs to see the smell of blood is all he cares about anyway." Harry heard a gasp from somewhere that was obviously not part of the memory and Hermione let out a faint "duh."

"What is going…OH MY GOD!"

"Lily wait!" James was heard yelling after her. He swore signaling to Harry that he had not succeeded.

"Right so when a teacher comes we'll just say we were practicing right?"

"I guess that will make it easier wont it." An agitated Sirius said to the group.

"Yeah I agree." Severus was obviously too scared of getting caught to consider the ethics of it.

Leon responded with a "No I will not lie! You were here to duel and you could have gotten yourself killed!" He yelled at them, apparently somewhere between this scene and the last he had gotten more of a backbone.

Sirius voice scared Harry to the bone. "No one would miss you so I suggest you agree stay quiet." He sounded like a death eater to Harry. Sirius really had been a different person back then.

James voice was totally shocked. "Sirius you want to get us expelled!?" Harry couldn't see what was likely an unsaid response. He had no idea what Severus was doing at the moment.

"We're screwed now anyway." A fourth voice that had to be Avery's tuned in. "Dueling is an expellable offense and certainly threatening a fellow student is as well. And I don't think that Dumbledore would see your point about him being half Vampire." _HALF VAMPIRE!?_

"Ok ok…I know!" James said and then. _"obl'v'ate_" he heard his father botch the memory charm in his haste and then the memory ended and he felt himself being lifted out of the pensieve back to the real world.

The last thing he noticed before the wave of sheer anger hit him was Hermione trying to calm down Ron and Seamus who were leveling their wands towards Saren. Then all he could sense was his own anger. He felt the pent up rage he had been keeping down for the entire summer surface instantly and it was nothing like what had happened before in the common room. He simply exploded in a rage forgetting his wand entirely before rushing towards Saren fists first. _It's his fault all of this is his fault! It would never have happened had he not agreed to lie that day!_ Was his last thought before he felt his mind fall away. Then every pleasant memory he had ever had surfaced into his thoughts. He was totally unaware what was going on as his mind was in turmoil, a storm of random positive and negative feelings that led to nothing but confusion. The last thing he remembered before the blackness of unconsciousness was his own voice asking. "Father…Sirius…why…"

A/N-Seamus (**Ignore if you don't have a problem with the canon of this decision**): Before people start saying things about canon and the Harry Potter Lexicon, I read the books specifically looking for what characters had what sexual orientations (I'm not stupid enough to assign it to random characters I wanted someone who it could benefit the plot from, meaning someone who could be conflicted by it and not just an excuse to have it in the story). But more importantly the Harry Potter Lexicon is WRONG when it says that Seamus thinks that Parvati and Padma are the best looking girls I their year. It was Dean who said that. And it even notes that in his entry there it says that while not mentioning anywhere in Seamus' that he feels the same way. This is also quite a mute point because no where in the books does it say this and those are the real thing when we talk about what is canon and what is not. And in them there is no real evidence of any orientation. And not dating Lavender does not count because there is not mention of him really feeling anything for her and it is common for gay guys to date girls to not stand out at dances. I have done my best to include this in as non problematic way as possible. In fact the coming out scene was one of the hardest for me to write. Not because of any emotional involvement. But because I wanted to keep it in character and in feel as much as I could. I may rewrite the scenes later to make it fit more. I don't' know. That is all, thank you for those of you that are still reading this.


	11. The New Gryffindor Quidditch Team

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 11: The New Gryffindor Quidditch Team

Harry found himself standing in a room. Unconscious on the floor were Ron, Hermione, Neville, Dean, Justin, Ernie, Seamus, Padma (he could tell it wasn't Parvati because she wasn't wearing much makeup), Blaise, Fred, George, Wesley, Malfoy, Cho and to his surprise, Cedric Diggory. Harry couldn't make out anything else. He knew that he was in a room of some sort but other than that it was all blurry as if this was a memory. But it couldn't be it didn't happen. _This must be a dream…_ The thought chilled him to the bone. This was different then the other dreams he had had.

The fact that the only thing clear about the dream was the people scared him more. All his other dreams had been about places or things. He had been clear where he was in every single one of them even the previous year when he had seen the department of mysteries and not known what it was it was. It was obvious to him where he was in the dreams once he was there.

Here there was nothing descript at all except for the bodies before him. He heard the sounds of movement behind him. He turned around quickly and found something that horrified him. Walking towards him were those same people that he had just saw unconscious. They were dead looking and their eyes were shinning with crimson sparkles which were just as beautiful as they were horrifying.

He heard a voice that he recognized instantly as Tom Riddle's. It wasn't Voldemort, but the voice of teenage Riddle form the diary his second year. "Here is what you wished for that day the day you went against me!" It said. "I know what you want what you dream of also what frightens you. Friends are not a luxury dark lords have. They are weak and foolish. You know this just as I do, you must know this they do nothing but get in your way. Yes the dark lord is friendless…"

He then heard a voice he had not expected but it was a shining light in the darkness. Dennis Creevy's voice said. "He's right you know that you have always known that. Why do you think you keep your friends here? Why do you think you are so horrified by the thought of them as mindless zombies?" He turned away from the slowly approaching corpses towards where the voice was coming from. There he saw Dennis and Devon Witter, the boy who had talked to him about snakes.

"It's interesting what happens here." Devon said with a smile. "You will not remember any of this when you wake up. It will be as if you were unconscious…" His smile ceased. "So why then are we taking the forms of your friends? It is quite simple…" Harry wasn't sure what was going on this could be a trick but something inside him told him that it wasn't.

"Harry you are quire confused, eh? Let's just say that we are here to guide you to where you need to be. These people that you saw are all a part of this because you make them a part of it." He then produced a small anchor from his hand and walked forward placing it in Harry's palm. "This is the first clue to them the first clue to what must be completed."

Dennis then walked over to him and said. "Pay attention to this boy. He has more insight then you could imagine."

"This boy too," Devon said. "You are one piece of the puzzle, you will know in time why we have told you this and you will know in time why you must now forget about it." He then disappeared leaving the image of Dennis as the only one left.

"That is for Hermione, you will not know why when you awaken but you will give it to her. This will all make sense later. The four have their reasons for making this as they are. Do not inform anyone about this when you ever come to remember it. Not even the headmaster himself. He has his own puzzle to solve, his own part to play." With that the image disappeared and then Harry felt an odd sensation like someone was dousing him with lukewarm clean fresh water…

Seamus, Hermione and Ron staring down at him were the first things he saw when he woke up. The last thing he remembered was rushing at Saren and then a flood of conflicting emotions. The three had concerned looks on their faces. Harry could just make out Saren's sitting figure a few feet away from him with a stern expression on his face.

"Harry? Are you ok?" Ron's voice was agitated.

Harry felt better but there was something slightly off, in any case it wasn't anything he was worried about, "I think so…What happened."

"When we got back form the pensieve you flipped. You rushed professor Saren looking like he was the devil or something. He then used something called "_legillimens_" on you then you stood there for a sec and just…fell." Seamus was looking nervous as he said this. As if he was waiting for Harry to explode again. Harry didn't feel angry really just really confused. Wouldn't he have realized if Saren had done legillimency on him? He always knew exactly what that felt like with Snape?

"That's essentially what happened at least from what we could tell." Hermione spoke up after Seamus finished. Her face looked incredibly concerned. "Are you sure you ok Harry? The events we saw in the Pensive must have hit really close to home."

Harry wasn't sure what he thought about them. He remembered the events he had seen and he vaguely remembered being angry about them but the anger was fleeting like it was being directed from something else. It was his anger so at least he knew it wasn't sent to him by Voldemort. But he couldn't really find in his memory where the feeling had come from it was there and then it was mysteriously gone the next second leaving him quite disoriented in its wake.

"I hope you are ok Harry, I wouldn't want to take you to the infirmary after our first lesson." Saren also looked concerned, but also as tad happy as well.

"So was that true?" Harry asked.

"Yes it was." Professor Saren said. "All of it." His voice got stern as he said this. Harry wasn't exactly sure why.

Hermione of course seemed to get it immediately, "So that Vampire Draught was about you then?" She asked slightly shaken by the thought. Seamus' eyes grew big and Ron stiffened a bit.

"Well no, but it was effective though. I was queasy for a few minutes after I tested it." He grimaced at that. "But yes I am a Dhampyr." Ron stiffened more and began to shake at this thought, Seamus started shaking and Hermione continued as she was before. Harry wasn't sure exactly what this meant but he wasn't really scared of the man at all.

"I see you are scared of me now. Oh well, it was bound to happen. I would prefer it if you didn't tell anyone about me the last thing I or Dumbledore needs right now is a full blown panic." He had a serious expression that really got the point across. Harry thought it would be a good idea to just change to subject so he asked the first question that came to mind.

"Why did you use legillimens on me when I rushed at you?" Harry didn't understand this it probably would have been safer to stun him with stupefy or maybe use the full body bind. Legillimens seemed a bad choice then.

Saren smiled slightly, "It was a calculated risk on my part. You reacted almost instantly with pure anger your emotions were in complete control of your actions. So I used _legillimens_ targeting happy memories in the hope that they would combat your anger without repressing it. That was when you fell unconscious I wasn't exactly sure why but you seemed ok and your mind seemed ok to me so I decided to wait. Only time would tell if it worked."

"Wow…I never would have thought of that." Hermione was in awe of her new professor.

"So, how old are you anyway?" Ron asked tactlessly as usual. However, Saren didn't seem to care.

"I turned thirty seven last month." He continued smiling as he said this.

"Wow, you don't look a day over twenty." Seamus said as he now stared mystified at the young looking instructor.

"It comes with the lineage. So on with the point of this endeavor. I assume you need some clarification on the events you just saw? You're outburst spoke wonders about it but please know that that was not my only experience at Hogwarts nor of Severus and your father." Harry nodded along with the Ron and Hermione, Seamus was still staring at Saren mystified, Harry wasn't sure but he thought he noticed a blush as well. He shook his head slightly; this was going to take some getting used to.

"James and Sirius found out about me when they followed me to the potion master where I was getting a supply of blood. Back then I wasn't aware that I could process food normally with a bit of mental training. Interesting what you learn when your actually allowed to try things but anyway after that they gave me hell, at least until that event. James botch of the _obliviate_ spell combined with the force of his intent permanently blinded me damaging my eyes magically." Ron looked slightly spooked at what was going on, Hermione was thinking and Seamus' nervous expression had been replaced with one of intrigue.

"You d…d…don't drink blood now right?" Ron asked shakily.

"Not normally, there would be no reason to, unlike full vampire's it is not required for my existence and I don't get a rush or anything from it or anything. I suppose it's more like a good wine or something. I don't know how to explain it without making you sound like a delicacy. But I do not drink blood in the classic vampiric manner." Saren looked stern as he said this, as Harry expected this did not alleviate Ron's fear in the slightest.

"I see that did nothing to alleviate your fear, not that I would expect it too. But think about it this way. Hagrid is a half giant right? So if he wanted to or simply could not control himself he could easily break bones and crush students without even trying just by interacting with them, but he doesn't because he can control that aspect of himself, maybe not as well as one might hope," there was a slight smirk on his face as he said this, "but the fact that the five of us are standing here today is proof that he does."

"So what you're saying is that you control your urges?" Hermione asked.

"Not really because Dhampyr's don't really HAVE urges for blood, as I said earlier. We simply get hungry and blood is simply one of the things that can act as sustenance so of course when hunger kicks in as it does for everyone blood is one of the things that triggers it. But it's not like that is any different then lets say being hungry and seeing a steak or a chicken or any other food. Blood has no special relevance as a food in our eyes, it is just another source." Saren's smile had faltered after that.

Harry wasn't sure what to believe, that man did seem honest and hadn't done anything as of yet that would imply that he had any intention of hurting them. He couldn't help it how he was born and Harry had to admit that the so called "half humans" that he had met had been some of the nicest people he knew.

"As expected this news is going to take some getting used to and it is getting late. So I will have someone escort you back to Gryffindor tower." Saren said as he stood up and headed towards the door.

"We know the way thank you." Harry said reflexively not liking having to be escorted everywhere. He already had two, apparently unreliable, bodyguards, something he was actually rather happy about. He didn't want to be led around the castle like a little child. Saren laughed.

"I knew you'd say something like that, don't worry I don't think your likely to get hurt or attacked or anything especially together but if you have an adult with you then you won't be stopped by the nightly patrols. I don't distrust your abilities but it would be a waste to send you out there and get you in trouble or something for being out of your dorms at this hour." This made sense to Harry, and Harry was glad that Saren unlike so many other teachers seemed to understand his need for independence. Funnily enough the other teachers that seemed to understand this were Hagrid and Snape. Oh Snape tried to get Harry in trouble for breaking rules but not once had he made a big deal about Harry's shenanigans other than to make snide comments about it and or give him detention.

"I have one more question for you." Seamus asked, "Why do ya wear that blind fold?"

Saren's smile flattened out at this. "Because my eye's are apparently incredibly gruesome to look at, at least that's how they have been described to me and if the descriptions are at all accurate than I would have to agree. So I wear this to not upset people. Sunglasses were a pain and made people think I was hiding something. The blindfold just makes people notice and think I'm weird. I prefer weird over distrusted any day."

"Oh…" Seamus said.

Strangely to Harry anyway it was Hermione who said the next thing. "I am curious what do they look like after all I have never heard of the combinations of two blinding curses and _obl'v'ate_ before."

"Hmm…I have no problem showing you but I can't say that you will be ready for what you see." He said warily.

That had the exact opposite effect on Harry and his friends then would generally be intended by such a comment. It was obvious to Harry that Seamus, Hermione and Ron were all more curious simply by the looks on their faces. He, needless to say, concurred with this curiosity.

"With all do respect professor." Hermione said, "I think that we have seen enough with simply our time at Hogwarts to warrant such a thing, the three of us at the very least anyway." She continued motioning towards Ron, Harry herself as she said this. Seamus definitely noticed being left out and seemed to stiffen at that comment.

"You definitely have a point. And I can se that when I really think about it you all should be able to take it anyway." He then removed his blindfold, just like that, no hesitation at all.

What was behind it made Harry almost wish they had never asked. He didn't remember what his mind had assumed they would look like but it wasn't at all like what they did. Saren was right about them being incredibly gruesome. The edges of the eyes looked like they had been burned like someone had put a hot poker in them and they had scared over however the skin that had been used was very red and crusty looking like the inside of his eyes were coated with one big scab. Inside the holes were small shriveled up things that must have been irises at one point but now looked more like little dark crimson raisins or prunes covered in scabbed blood. The scabbed skin didn't just stop at his eyes though it also snaked out of his eye sockets onto his face a little bit around where his eyes would be.

No one spoke and Hermione let out a gasp. Seamus grabbed his stomach and started to turn slightly green in the face. At this point Saren quickly put the blindfold back one. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have shown you that…"

"No…its ok I'll live." Seamus said his face slowly returning to normal.

"That looks painful…" Ron said.

"It isn't, however it was when it happened, but I figured it would be best to skip over that part of the memory." Saren had a concerned expression on his face.

"I'm glad I don't think I could stand that if it caused that." Ron said sounding relieved.

Hermione remained uncharacteristically silent. Harry wasn't sure what to say either. Was there anything to say now?

"I know this is shocking to you but it happened almost thirty years ago and for those of us involved it is old news. Don't worry about me I have lived with this for this long and I'll continue to live with it until the day I die." He then smiled and called, "Remus, you ready to take these four back to their dorm?" Remus stepped into the room with a blank expression on his face and nodded. "I'll be heading to sleep now then good night." Saren then got up and left the room.

"Come on I'll escort you back to your dorm… You know he really isn't a bad guy…" Remus started.

"Yeah we know. We have experience with so called 'half breeds' remember." Harry smiled up at his friend as he said this. Remus surprised him by not smiling back.

"Of course you do, but I must implore you all the importance of this though. He is an unlikely ally who is taking a giant risk being here to teach you all. Yes he was brought here as an instructor for a class that ahs existed before. But beyond that he was brought here specifically to teach you three, something he volunteered for when even the headmaster had misgivings about his safety." Remus then stopped and looked at the four of them. "Think carefully before you tell anyone about this. Not that I expect you to go blabbing about, I know you can keep secrets. But this cannot be allowed to get out. He doesn't deserve that…" With that he continued walking silently towards the common room with four silent and glum faces following him.

When they got there Remus left them and wished them good night, he still had the common room was essentially empty, there were two seventh years studying by the fire but that was all. Harry, Ron and Seamus said good night to Hermione and then headed up towards their dorm. When they got there they were surprised to find Wesley and Neville waiting there excitedly.

"Where have you been?" Neville asked a gleam of curiosity on his face.

"Yeah, Neville was telling me about your late night shenanigans. About the only thing that seemed out of place to him was Seamus not sound asleep in his bed." Wesley then smiled mischievously. "So what's up then? Where did you go?"

Harry wasn't sure how much to tell them, he wanted to tell them the truth but he also didn't want it to get around the school and while he didn't think that either of them would do that he still wasn't used to putting complete trust in people other than Ron and Hermione. Seamus and Ron also remained silent apparently waiting for a prompt from him. The fact that Saren had told them the others in his dorm were invited was not lost on him either. And yet for some reason he couldn't tell them right now. He guessed that it was probably do to the revelation he had just had about his parents past.

"Sorry, but I'm too tired to talk about it right now." As he said this his body decided to yawn confirming his words to be true. Harry then found himself incredibly exhausted much more so then he had felt moments earlier. Wesley and Neville must have seen this because they as well as Seamus and Ron, who looked equally tired as he felt, moved off to their own beds. He didn't even bother to take of his robes simply dropped onto his bed and fell quickly to sleep.

The next morning was spent rushing to get ready much like the previous mornings had been. But it was not a crazed rush to get to breakfast as the previous mornings had been. This was an excited rush to get ready for the quidditch tryouts that very morning. And so Harry found himself walking towards the quidditch pitch alongside his dorm mates, minus Dean, and Hermione.

The say was incredibly sunny and rather nice, the perfect day to get out broomsticks and fly about. Harry also needed to try out the new broomstick his friends had gotten him. He figured it would fly the same as his old one but he couldn't be sure until he tried it out. Out on the pitch he could see Ginny clearly standing next to McGonagall looking over different people in Gryffindor robes of various sizes. A boy in Slytherin robes was there too but Harry could tell form the body language and fact that he was waving at them that it was Blaise. He walked up to the Gryffindors merrily, he didn't get as bad a greeting as could have been expected but it wasn't exactly perfect either.

"Hey Harry guess who the new spokesperson for quidditch is?" With how excited Blaise was there could only be one answer. Of course he didn't give them time to answer so it didn't matter. "Me! Never thought McGonagall would ever let a Slytherin do it but apparently she was happy I asked about it." He was really excited and any negative thought towards him seemed to wash away down the river of happiness.

"Congratulations." Harry said to his excited friend. "I hope you do well."

"Yeah if there is going to be a Slytherin announcing things I'm glad it's you." Ron said, it didn't exactly sound like a compliment more like a snide remark but Blaise didn't seem to notice or care.

"Good going but do try to be non-biased like Lee was…" Seamus comment trailed off with a knowing smile. Blaise simply laughed.

"Oh don't worry I will not follow in Jordan's footsteps. He is irreplaceable." He then smiled before walking off towards the castle waving bye to the group of Gryffindors.

"Hmm…this will be different certainly…" Hermione said as Blaise disappeared, "I certainly hope he isn't as biased as Lee was or we could have a war on our hands. In any case it seems like it would be a good idea to start the tryouts. I'll meet you guys afterwards." And with that she, Neville and Wesley headed off towards the stands chatting. Wesley has told them earlier than quiddtich wasn't his cup of tea. Said he enjoyed watching it but the one time he played it he had been the target of too many bludgers for him to really enjoy himself. He hadn't explained any further than that and everyone had decided to leave the matter alone. Harry hadn't really expected Neville to try out so when he walked off towards the stands no one took notice.

Upon reaching the pitch Harry noticed that the number of students trying out was fairly small. There seemed to be many more people there to simply watch the tryouts than to actually go out for the team. He looked for any snoopers from other houses in the stands. Seeing none he walked up to where Ginny and McGonagall were standing.

"Hello Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley. Ginny has agreed to be captain if she makes the team so all you have to do is make sure it is up to par this year." She smiled as she said this and then briskly walked off towards the castle.

Harry and Ron walked over to where Ginny was standing looking over the people in line who wanted to try out for the team. Seamus pulled a broomstick out of his robe and went to stand with the students trying out. Some of them edged away from him slowly but Dennis walked over to him and started chatting with him, his eyes daring others to say a word despite his youthful smile.

"It's about time you showed up." Ginny said in mock annoyance smiling all the same. "I was wondering when our remaining two players were going to show up." Harry noticed Sloper and Kirke off on the other side of the pitch flying about hitting bludgers with two red heads who looked similar to a certain two bodyguards that seemed to be less and less reliable to Harry. Not that that bothered him any.

"I see your taking your new job as Captain quite seriously." Ron said.

"Of course although I am not captain yet I still have to make the team again after all it would hardly be fair to assign myself a slot over a better player." She said seriously before going and standing with the people who were trying out.

"Ok so we are mainly holding tryouts for chaser but if people want to try out for the other positions we might as well do that too." Harry said to the rather small group of students in front of him. Everyone nodded. "Ok so all of you trying out for Chaser stay where you are. Anyone who is interested in trying out for beater go and talk to Fred and George, just tell them that I sent you." Harry smiled. A couple of the larger students in the group headed over in that direction.

"Ok now anyone who wants to try out for Keeper go over and wait under the goalposts." Harry pointed over too where they should go, but no one went earning a relieved sigh from Ron.

"Well then that leaves Seeker, anyone who is interested in being seeker form a line next to the line for chaser. Oh and while you're at it, form a line for Chaser as well so we can get this practice started." The Gryffindors quickly formed two lines. The line for chaser was significantly longer than the one for seeker and both Seamus and Dennis were in that longer line. Harry wasn't sure what he thought about the seeker tryouts but he was going to try out for it like everyone else. He figured he should after all it was only fair. Fairness…he wouldn't have thought that way last year. He realized that he must have really grown up. He smiled at that thought, it felt good.

"Ok now me and Ron are going to hold the chaser tryouts and then Ron and Ginny will hold the Seeker tryouts because I will be trying out again too." He smiled at Ron as he said this Ron looked slightly surprised but not as surprised as he could have. "So let's get started."

The tryouts for Chaser started with the person flying around the pitch to test their flying maneuverability. After that they all shot at Ron who was still the only Keeper to see how they were at getting points. After the individual tryouts they were going to split up into groups and then pass the ball around. But that comes later. For the most part there wasn't anyone who did horribly on the tryout. There was a younger boy, a second year if Harry remembered correctly who was so nervous he almost fell of his broom stick but did ok after he got over it. Although he was a horrible shot, Harry thought this was likely also due to nervousness but he couldn't be sure. And a girl who had to be rushed to the hospital wing when a random bludger from the other side of the pitch where the beaters were practicing knocked her off her broomstick where she was just shy of lading straight on her head. After that and an apology form Fred and George the beaters were more careful.

It wasn't until Dennis tried out that Harry had found a sure in. The first thing that stood out before anything else was his broomstick. As he was getting ready to start his training he produced a _Firebolt_ form his robes. Harry was curious as to how he had gotten his hands on it but didn't ask. But even that had not prepared Harry for what he saw. Dennis was apparently a natural at flying possibly even better then himself. During his tryout he had seemed to deflect off the stands and the ground instead of merely turning. He also was flying incredibly fast. Harry had never seen himself fly on a _Firebolt_ but if he had to guess he thought that Dennis was flying a bit faster than he usually did. It seemed only slightly slower then the people at the world cup the summer before his fourth year and he could barely make out what was going on there without using the slow motion feature on his omnoculars. After that incredible display of flying he proved himself an incredibly capable shooter as well. The first important advantage he had there was of course his speed, it was obvious to Harry form how frantic he looked that Ron was having trouble even seeing where he was shooting from. When Dennis then managed to put six shots out of the ten he made into the hoops. Two of them had missed and Ron had miraculously saved two of them despite Dennis obvious skill. Harry was sure that Dennis had a future in quidditch, he was a natural at the sport is he ever saw one. Ron and Ginny agreed, as did everyone else trying out. Harry saw there was going to be no problems with it at all. Dennis Creevy was definitely on the team.

No one else after him even came close. Ginny had done well in the shooting but her flying could use a little work. She said she didn't have much time to practice over the summer despite Ron's letters. They were moving around to much but still she had done well considering. Seamus had also somewhat surprised Harry as he had never seen him really fly. He was nothing spectacular but he was a good steady flyer who seemed to have a knack for quick reversals and turns as long as they weren't too sudden.

During the passing and later interception practice Dennis had again shown his knack. If he had a weakness on the field it was that he wasn't to strong and so couldn't pass very far, shooting Harry noticed worked for him because he had the momentum of his speed on his side something that was not always there when passing. But he was great at interceptions and in fact seemed to have a knack for diving between two passing chasers and grabbing the Quaffle form above or below, another point for the boy. Seamus seemed a great passer with his strong arms and Ginny wasn't half bad either, of course neither was anyone else.

By the end the only person who he was sure about was Dennis. He and Ron stood aside to talk about it but the talk didn't take that long. In the end Ron and Harry had decided one Ginny and Seamus as the main team and everyone else present as back ups. After all no one had done horribly and there were only four remaining people anyway. One of them, a fourth year boy Harry hardly knew was not happy at all that Seamus was chosen over him and stormed off the field but the rest stayed and congratulated the three who had made the main team. Harry had to admit though that their choices had not been totally based on skill. They had chosen Ginny so that neither of them had to Captain, a job that both of them seemed happier and happier to be without. Harry was really surprised how much Ron seemed to be happy not to be captain. He hadn't believed him when he had told him before. But it became more and more clear to him that he was content where he was something that he had never seen in Ron before. Seamus had been a choice mainly because he was a decent player and because Harry didn't want him to feel left out. After all he was going through and was likely to go through he deserved something to show for. Ron and Ginny (whom they had asked to join them after deciding she was in) had agreed.

Next came the seeker tryouts. They included a boy and a girl both of whom were younger than Harry. Harry was not sure how Ron and Ginny were going to decide who was on the team since he was trying out but in the end that didn't matter. He was just going to do his best and if someone beat him…then they deserved the position more than he did anyway. It made him have less reason to be angry that way, and he knew from experience that he did not like himself while he was angry.

The seeker tryout was a lot shorter and simpler then the chaser one. A practice snitch was released (Harry had leant his snitches specifically for the tryouts). The person in question would then chase around the snitch for a maximum of thirty minutes after which they would go on to the next person in line. The first to go was the girl and she had done reasonably well. She had gotten rather close to catching the snitch three times and the last time she would have succeeded if not for a random bludger almost hitting her. This time one of the twins had given a "heads up" before collecting the loose bludger. Harry had done reasonably well as well. He had managed to catch the snitch within the last minute of his allotted time and it was not without incident as he had done a forward roll off of his broomstick in order to do so and had cracked his elbow in the process. It wasn't broken however and other than being slightly sore he was not worse than any other time he had caught it. The other boy had done about as well as the girl. He too almost got the snitch a few times but failed. This time there was no bludger interference but he was close enough that Harry thought he would have eventually gotten it. Harry also noticed that he had a slightly unfair advantage in having a better broom. The girl had an old worn Shooting Star and the boy had a Comet 260. Compared to his _Firebolt_ they were pretty low end brooms. But then again, compared to a _Firebolt_ most brooms were.

Ginny and Ron had quickly decided to keep Harry as seeker, but as with the chasers the two runner ups were kept as backup. Ginny had said that they were more likely to be needed then the chasers. Harry wasn't exactly thrilled to hear that but he had to agree. He has missed too many matches already do to injury and he was sure that he would miss another, as unhappy as that thought made him.

So that was that, Fred and George had ultimately decided that Kirke and Sloper would still be on the team but that the two newcomers would make great backup and now they had a complete backup team to scrimmage against during practice. A few of the runner ups seemed slightly disappointed but they didn't make a big deal of it so Harry wasn't really worried. After all that was to be expected.

After the tryouts were over, Harry, Ron and Ginny met with the all the people to work out the practice schedule. After that was done Harry decided to ask Dennis why he hadn't tried out for Seeker as with his speed eh might even have given Harry a run for his money.

"I was wondering why didn't you try out for seeker? You are certainly fast enough on a broom." Harry asked him as they walked towards the stands where he Ron and Seamus were going to meet Wesley, Hermione and Neville to head off to lunch.

"I may fly fast but I can't keep the snitch in my sights. My eyes just aren't fast enough. I can keep the quaffle ok but it's bigger and doesn't dart around as much. I have tried to follow the snitch and I always got lost. I could probably work and get it eventually but I would rather play chaser anyway. From what I can see the Seeker spends a lot of the game searching around or watching as oppose to really playing." Harry couldn't deny this statement. Finding the snitch wasn't exactly easy, neither was catching it. But he did notice that he spent a lot more time sitting around searching the sky then the other players. In fact there had been times when he had only moved to dodge a bludger for almost ten minutes on clearer days where the entire pitch could be seen.

Dennis ran off towards the castle after saying that, waving bye to the older Gryffindors as he disappeared into the distance. Hermione, Wesley and Neville were waiting patiently by the stairs onto the stands smiling.

"Wow that was cool! Who would have guessed that Dennis Creevy could fly that fast?" Neville was practically beaming. "We are a sure in this year for the house cup."

"Well I wouldn't say we're a sure in, we definitely have an advantage. Our team is completely new and looks to be very different from our old one. So unless they change their strategies greatly we will know what to expect and they won't." Hermione's quick analysis was met with smiles instead of annoyance. She was right and the fact that she was smiling and seemed somewhat excited rather than simply thoughtful added rather than subtracted from the general mood of the group.

That mood lasted exactly until they got into the great hall where they ran into Dean and a few Gryffindor seventh years that didn't seem happy at all. Next to them looking slightly worried was the boy who had stormed off after Seamus was picked over him.

"I can't believe you chose him to be on the team. You are aware how that makes out house look right!" One of the seventh years said. Dean was staring at the group with disdain. But he didn't seem to have the malice of the rest of the group in front of them. While that didn't help the current situation much, at least it was something.

"Yeah we don't want to be represented by HIM!" Another one said while pointing at Seamus accusingly.

Seamus started to walk away when Dean finally spoke. "What running now! The Seamus I remember wouldn't run he'd fight. Or are you too queer now to even stand up for yourself!"

Harry wasn't sure but he noticed a hint of sadness and challenge in Dean's words as mean as they sounded. It was almost as if Dean was trying to get him to act like his old self again instead of putting him down. It was definitely a challenge but it didn't seem as malicious as the other's. Harry thought Dean must really miss him.

Seamus turned towards the group and then looked at the people he was with. Not one of them had moved. Harry, Hermione, Neville, Wesley, and even Ron were standing behind him. Everyone in the great hall was watching. Harry was sure it was about to come down to a brawl when they all heard a familiar voice from the doorway.

"I see that Gryffindor house is, as usual, itching for a fight." Professor Snape's tone was his general "you are about to be punished severely" tone. Harry turned around to see him standing in the doorway next to professor McGonagall who looked just as displeased as professor Snape if not more so.

"I cannot believe you, preparing to fight among your own housemates. All of you report to my office after lunch! Now off to your table! All of you!" McGonagall had a no nonsense expression on her face and Snape had his vindictive smirk. However it was obvious that he would have preferred to hand out the punishment it didn't matter as much. Everyone knew that McGonagall was harder on her own housemates than anyone else and that short of Snape and Filch, she gave out the worst punishments of any professor in the school.

Harry wasn't looking forward to the punishment they were going to get but he was sure it was worth it. Seamus needed friends now more then ever and he needed them too. No one was going to mess with anyone he considered a friend and get away with it.

There were two noticeable groups walking towards McGonagall's office the one surrounding Seamus and the one surrounding Dean. They kept looking at each other. Dean's group had menacing expressions except Dean who looked tired more than anything. Seamus looked somewhat uptight but also somewhat relieved. If he hadn't gotten it before he got it now, the people behind him were behind him no matter what.

McGonagall looked sterner then Harry had ever seen her. Sterner even then when he and Ron had flown Arthur's flying car or when He Ron and Hermione had told her about the Philosophers Stone. It seemed so odd too. Those seemed to be much worse in the grand scale of thing then this little childish fighting but it obviously was very important to her.

"Now what in the world would make you all want to fight like that? And in the great hall at that!" She basically yelled at them all.

"Well…" Hermione started before she was promptly cut off by one of the seventh years that were along side Dean.

"…they were bragging about getting put on the Quidditch team and…"

"We were doing no such thing!" Ron cut him off. Then there was a yelling match where everyone cut everyone else off before they could finish.

"Quiet, only once before in all my years teaching here have I seen students as unruly as you all." She said in the most admonishing tone Harry had ever heard her use, which was saying a lot.

"Ms. Granger you were saying." She said, Hermione had not taken part in the yelling match, Harry had not either actually. It was almost totally Ron on their side.

"Well Seamus had been put on the Quidditch team and someone complained about it in the great hall. For what I should think would be obvious reasons." McGonagall nodded at that and Hermione looked at the group around Dean accusatively before continuing. "They then just stopped us as we were entering the Great hall and said some rubbish about not wanting Seamus representing their house. You basically came in at that moment professor."

"Ok, Ms Granger, Mr. Potter, Mr. Finnigan, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Tinderspoon I am still ashamed at you for not going to a teacher and so I will be removing one point from Gryffindor for each of you and will contact you about your punishment later. You may go."

The last thing Harry saw before he left the room was McGonagall glare at the other students before she waved her wand and the door shut in his face. He was relieved, he thought they were relatively lucky in their relative lack of punishment as even though it was not their fault they had been a part of an interhouse fight. Something he was certain was one of the worst things one can be in form McGonagall's point of view, especially in house Gryffindor.

They all started heading back towards their dorm, any excitement from the morning lost about what had possibly happened. Yes Snape and McGonagall had stepped in before anything really happened but had they not there would have likely been a fight in the middle of the great hall.

"Thank you." Seamus said to them as they walked back towards their dormitory.

"No problem, I said I would be behind you all the way and I meant it!" Wesley said as he patted Seamus on the back reassuringly.

The rest of the group simply nodded in response to that. Seamus smiled and the rest of the trip was taken in silence. Harry knew this was just the beginning and he was not looking forward to what was in the near future because if his experience at Hogwarts told him anything, then this was simply the beginning. It was a famous muggle writer who wrote "It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times." And that's how Hogwarts was for him, the best of times and the worst of times. Only time would tell what times were coming up and what they would lead too.

"It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times."-Charles Dickens, _A Tale of Two Cities_


	12. Pensieves and Pressing Problems

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 12: Pensieves and Pressing Problems

Harry took back everything he had thought about being lucky about his punishment upon seeing what he was assigned to clean. Apparently McGonagall had simply needed more time to come up with a truly horrific punishment for them. However that time was well spent. As he looked upon the prefect's bathroom that had been assigned to him and Neville, he had to wonder what sadistic fate had made this decision.

The bathroom that was assigned to them was the one closest to the Slytherin dorms and it was nearly in total ruin upon their arrival. The floor was complete flooded with what Harry could only hope was bath water, but was likely not given the smell, the bathroom reeked. The toilet was clogged obviously purposely and the bathtub was full of dirty water. Harry had no doubt that this was the work of a certain blond Slytherin who must have somehow gotten word of his punishment. As much as he had stopped hating the boy this time he had gone too far. Here was no way that Malfoy was getting away with this unscathed. Neville definitely agreed.

They were supposed to clean up the mess without magic, but given the state of events in the room and the lack of any supervision they decided to cheat slightly and at the very least make the room more bearable with an air purifying charm. It didn't keep them from needing showers and clean robes horribly but at least they could breathe while they worked.

Harry knew this was going to be a long week as he, Hermione, Seamus, Ron, Neville and Wesley had been assigned to clean the bathrooms every night. Even Hermione had complained about the punishment being unfair considering their work loads but all McGonagall had responded with was a simple, "You should have had the sense to get a teacher then." Before leaving with her 'and that's that expression on her face. Harry supposed that compared to the others in that confrontation they had gotten lucky, as they had been assigned to cleaning up stables with Hagrid and Charlie. Harry was glad he wasn't doing that, goodness knows what Hagrid had brought in, but whatever it was he certainly didn't want to be the one cleaning up after it.

But there he was on a Sunday night cleaning up an obviously purposely vandalized bathroom, for the first time of what could be many, while trying to decide how to work his schedule around this new chore. It appeared that the DA would have to wait a week for a meeting as that was the only thing he could think of that he could afford to delay. He was sure the members would understand, but that didn't make him like the delay any better.

Harry's Monday was much better, in Care of magical creatures they had spent more time working with the Pegasus, although this time was less fun and more work. They had learned how to really ride the thing as well as how to board and get off of it mid flight and other important things like that. Apparently Charlie was going to get right into the technical stuff. Harry was impressed though. Teaching seemed to come naturally to the second oldest Weasley.

Now he was waiting on the red pillow next to the black pillow in professor Saren's classroom waiting for class to start. Ron, Hermione and Seamus were sitting on the other randomly scattered red pillows. Justin and Ernie were there as well as Padma Patil. Terry and Michael were not there yet and neither was Blaise. Professor Saren was also not there yet. Harry noticed that Justin had chosen the yellow pillow next to the black pillow this time. Ernie hadn't said anything about it nor even seemed to notice. Maybe they were growing to like the wayward Slytherin? Harry couldn't be sure.

Blaise walked into the room then and smiled in Harry's direction after scanning the room, presumably for his spot. Justin immediately surprised Harry by turning towards Blaise and saying, "Hi," with a smile on his face. _Oh right…they worked on that potion together didn't they?_

Then they went off talking about who knows what. It wasn't that Harry didn't care it was that it was merely small talk that he had reason to really pay attention to. After a few more minutes Terry and Michael entered the room followed shortly by Professor Saren.

Professor Saren was wearing the same thing he had the previous day. Harry felt silly now he just realized that he was one of the only students still wearing his robes. In all the confusion of the weekend he had complete forgotten about that. No one else seemed to notice so it hardly mattered.

Professor Saren produced a small trunk from his pocket which he then tapped with his wand saying an enlargement charm. He then opened it and pulled out a pensieve. "This, as some of you likely know," Saren sent a knowing smirk in Harry's direction, "is a pensieve. It is used for storing memories either so one can watch them or even experience them in a different and generally more tangible manner, it is also useful for storing memories one does not want others to find through legillimency, which is primarily what we will be using them for in here. However since they are such a useful tool when dealing with memories I am going to teach you much more about them then simply the general uses that most witches and wizards know of."

With that he proceeded to hand out a pensieve to every member of the class. "Please be careful with these as I was only able to procure so many of them for the class and thus do not have an infinite supply of them in case one breaks." He then sat down in front of the class with another pensieve on the floor in front of him.

"First I am going to show you how to put a memory into it. It is a rather simple process however one must have some deal of control in order to do it properly. While moving the memory from your mind to the pensieve is relatively effortless. Moving a specific memory can be slightly trickier." Harry had seen Dumbledore and Snape put memories into pensieves and it had seemed relatively simple then and so he was anxious to try. Besides if it was that effortless then what did it matter if he took the wrong memory? He could simply replace the memory and do it again if he messed up. Saren continued however, and Harry couldn't help but notice that he seemed to respond to his line of thinking. And he could not be sure if this was simply coincidence given what he already knew about his eccentric professor.

"Now the reasons for not simply jumping into this are that pulling a random memory from oneself can be dangerous. It can bring out hidden or repressed memories which could be dangerous or even destructive to one's psyche particularly if they are memories that one isn't ready to deal with. We will be working on dealing with such memories later because it is impossible to truly master psionics while having them but that is well beyond the simple use of pensieves and would not be a good place to start the year with at all." Saren then got out his wand and motioned everyone else to do the same. "You shouldn't worry about getting some repressed memory though. As that is only likely to happen if one pulls out a memory randomly. What is far more likely is trying to get a specific memory and instead pulling out a related or simply similar one. It is the mental concentration which is the tricky part, not anything that has to do with a wand.

"Now first think of a memory something easy that you would not mind possibly sharing with the class that you can easily keep in your thoughts. Happy memories are usually the easiest to do this with however any memory that is not too emotionally distracting will work." Harry had a memory lined up already. The first time he had caught the snitch his first year it was a day he remembered quite clearly, and at this point found rather amusing considering that he had almost swallowed it.

"You all found your memory?" There were nods from everyone in the class. "Oh now picture that memory in your head and try and keep it there. It is easiest if you think of only that memory but that can be hard for some people and so it is more prudent to simply keep that memory the most prominent rather than trying to force the others out of your mind." Hermione and Padma began concentrating, Blaise, Justin and Ernie didn't really change at all and Terry and Michael looked bored. "Ok, now take your wand and put it to your temple," he did what he said as he said it. The class followed suit. "Now concentrate on sending the memory into the wand, it should very quickly leave your thoughts and then form on the end of your wand like a silvery wispy translucent substance. Once you feel the memory is completely removed. You will likely feel odd because you will be aware that you have a memory but will not be aware what it is. People experience this in different ways and so I cannot say what it will feel like but it will likely be fairly obvious." With that he took his wand from his temple with the silvery wisp that Harry knew was a memory before placing it into the pensieve.

Harry then did what Saren had described, and sure enough he began to lose the memory. He had no trouble whatsoever with other memories because this particular memory was a strong one which he had used many a time to remove more negative thoughts from his head. The feeling as the memory was removed was odd. It wasn't replaced by another memory is was simply gone and in its wake was a foggy feeling like there was supposed to be something there but there wasn't. It felt like knowing something but not remembering it. A memory he was supposed to have but could not bring up at the moment, a fog in his mind replacing the previous thought.

As soon as he was sure the memory had been removed completely, Harry carefully deposited the silvery substance into the pensieve not wanting to possibly lose or damage such an important thought. He then looked into it. It looked like a swirl of silvery clouds. He remembered what to do to see the memory and so stuck his wand in it and stirred, the image of him at eleven chasing the snitch, slipping off his broom and rolling into it mouth first showed up for anyone to se if they bothered to look. Everyone else was in different states of completion except for Blaise who at some point while Harry was worrying about his own memory had started meditating, or, at least that was the only way he could describe it. Padma, Terry, Michael and Hermione were looking into their pensieves stirring them with their wands. Ron and Seamus were looking at their pensieves with confused expressions on their faces.

"I see you have all seceded in filling your pensieves. I expected as such, it is not a difficult thing to do in the slightest. Whether you succeeded at putting in the correct memory is simply a matter of how clear you were able to keep your mind upon the transfer. Stirring the memory as some of you seem to already know will allow you to look at it, wands are recommended for this. Now removing the memory is essentially the same. Put your wand in the pensieve and then concentrate on picking up the memory. It shouldn't even really take that much effort, simply the want to return the memory. Then simply return the wand to your temple and concentrate on moving the memory back into your mind. This should be relatively effortless as your mind is where the memory is supposed to be anyway and the body and mind have this way of returning themselves to their natural state whenever they can and at other times which I will describe later. Now practice and don't worry if you get the wrong memory or fragments of multiple memories, just keep trying. You will get it eventually, I can think of no wizard who has ever failed to properly use a pensieve for it's most basic of uses." With that he wandered around the room giving people tips and generally doing what Harry would expect any teacher to do. The more Harry knew about his blind professor the more it seemed to him that his blindness didn't matter. In fact it didn't really seem to affect the man at all.

After about thirty minutes of moving memories into and out of pensieves, most of which was simply spent goofing off since everyone had succeeded with their intended memory by ten minutes into the actual work time. Saren clapped his hands to get everyone's attention before moving to the front of the class again. "Now that you are all capable at putting memories into pensieves now I will teach you how to scramble them. This could be important for this class as we will all be putting our most secret of memories into pensieves so that they will not be found out by anyone else, in case someone gets to curious and decides to get himself expelled. That and it is a useful thing to know if one ever wants a memory protected."

He took a memory and put it into his pensieve. "This memory is totally harmless however it is also fragmented to the point that that barely matters. As you should all be able to see there should be nothing of use in it. I have never seen this before so I wouldn't know but I do know that almost no one should be able to effectively navigate this memory." Harry had to agree that it would be a rather difficult endeavor. All he could see was mixed flashes of seemingly unrelated blurry images that not only were much to fast to make out but also seemed to mix with each other.

"Interestingly enough this is possibly the easiest thing to do with a pensieve besides placing memories into them. Essentially it is all in the delivery of the memory. One doesn't fragment it in the pensieve one fragments it in their head and then puts the already fragmented memory into the pensieve. I don't really expect you all to be able to do this today, however I hope you will all be capable of doing it by next week. Oh and those pensieves are yours, a souvenir for taking the class as well as a tool for it. But if it breaks you are going to have to buy a replacement, as I have far from limitless funds.

"Now as for strategies on how to fragment a memory it is actually quite simple, it is exactly what it is described as. One way to do it, that isn't the safest mind you, is to simply start with a still image of the memory or even a moving one, as long as it is flat and then manually take it apart in your mind like a puzzle. Mix the pieces around and then shove that in as much of a chaotic mess as possible into your wand. This is actually rather difficult for some people and rather easy for others. I suspect that those of you who are logical and generally do well in academics will have more trouble with this then the ones who think a bit more outside the box." He smiled knowingly in Hermione's direction, she responded with a slight sneer which only gave Saren, and Harry, amused smiles.

"Other methods include making it liquid and them mixing it together much like taking a wet painting and then mixing all the colors together. Well I think you all get my drift it does not really matter how you do it as long as in the end there is little way to make out what the memories original intent was. Don't worry about bringing it back together upon returning it to your mind. As I said the mind has a way of correcting itself and this is one of those cases where if you let it your mind will do all the work for you upon returning the previously fragmented memory."

They spent the rest of the time working on fragmenting their memories and true to Saren's word the Ravenclaws and Hermione were finding it rather difficult while it took Seamus, Blaise and Ron barely ten minutes after which they started trying other methods. Eventually they started talking since everyone else was working and it seemed that despite the house animosity, they were hitting it off quite well.

Harry found it was annoyingly difficult to fragment his memories in any way. He could never think of them that way they were too lucid for him. Everyway Saren had described required them to have a tangible nature which he never had associated with memory before. In the end he imagined a cloud surrounding the memory and obstructing it while spinning to disorient the subject while not affecting the memory. He would have to work on that as he was sure this was also an important trick for occlumency as well, and a spinning cloud would have no effect on lets say his professor who couldn't see anyway. He knew he would have to practice a better method but for now that kept his thoughts relatively safe and since he was going to be practicing with Saren without pensieves anyway there was no point in worrying about him getting into the pensieve or not. Not that he expected his professor to try that in the first place.

Apparently he was not the only one to not come up with an effective way of doing this as near the end of the class Hermione started yelling at her pensieve, much to everyone's amusement. Saren had a short talk with her in the corner which seemed to placate her at least for the moment. But she still looked like she wasn't getting any closer to succeeding. Michael and Terry were having just as much trouble as Hermione but Padma seemed to have figured it out rather quickly, at least compared to the other three although she kept trying over and over again even after apparent success. Harry surmised that in this class she was going to be the top student. The stuff obviously just came to her.

Harry stayed after class, telling Hermione, Seamus and Ron that he had a practice related question to ask him. They all seemed to understand and so left him to his own devices.

Blaise stuck around to ask Saren a question regarding meditation but eventually he left as well. When Harry was certain it was just the two of them he quickly went and shut the door before bringing up his query with his youthful professor. "Professor, you know how you said that you wanted me to invite my other dorm mates to our occlumency lessons?"

"Yes?" Saren didn't even turn upon giving his response he was busy cleaning up whatever was in the chest that he had taken the pensieves out of. His tone made it clear to Harry that he was listening despite the distraction.

"Well I couldn't think of a good way to tell them so I thought I would just bring them to the next session and then you could tell them."

"Ok, I can do that. Although don't expect Mr. Tinderspoon to take part in the lessons. I know for a fact that he will decline. Don't worry if he finds out though, he is good at keeping secrets. Now run along and rejoin your mates. Wouldn't want anyone getting suspicious now would we?" And with that Saren turned around, smiled and motioned Harry towards the door.

Harry had wanted to ask Saren what he knew about Wesley but it was obvious from Saren's expression, as nice as it was, that the conversation was over. This did confirm one thing though, Wesley was obviously hiding something. And more to the point Saren, and likely all the other teachers now that he thought about it, obviously knew what it was. Snape's shenanigans towards Wesley as well as McGonagall's insistence on his transfiguration ability all pointed to something. He wasn't about to ruin a possible friendship over a simple secret, especially a secret that was obviously not being kept from the staff. But he had experienced too much to let it go without a second thought. _Alastor you are turning me more and more. Pretty soon you'll have me wearing that hip flask of yours._ Harry smirked at that thought as this was not the first time he had considered that prospect.

There was a surprise that day at dinner. The Daily Prophet had an emergency second addition delivered to all permanent subscribers which of course meant that Hermione was right on top of it. She was reading the very front page and was about to take a bite of her dinner when she gasped and dropped her fork which proceeded to knock over her pumpkin juice which Wesley managed to just barely stop from spilling off the table and staining her robes. She noticed none of this as she virtually instantly scanned the rest of the article before announcing. "This is bad…no it's horrible! This is possibly the worst thing that could have happened…" This got nearly all the Gryffindors attention. Colin and Dennis even stopped chatting and edged silently closer to get a better view. After the shifting stopped Hermione started reading the article.

"'The Minister of Magic is missing.'" A few gasps were heard form the crowd but a few relieved sighs were heard as well. Hermione ignored them and continued. "'This Saturday Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, disappeared while on a business trip to Ireland.'" Seamus gawked at that. "'He was supposed to return that same day, no one seemed to worry until an informant said that they had seen men in black robes near the apparition point that the minister and his team were planning to return to. Death eaters are suspected and some in the ministry have even theorized that the minister himself has been in on He Who Must not be Named's plot from the beginning, especially considering his denial of his return last year. There has been no proof either way on these accusations.' Ignore that," Hermione interjected, "It's written by Rita Skeeter. 'Now the amazing thing about this is just how fast the ministry came to action. Dolores Umbridge, who graciously volunteered to take the job, was appointed to the minister position…'" Harry nearly choked on his own Adams apple when he heard this and apparently he wasn't the only one. Gasps, coughs and choking were heard from all over the great hall, "'…as it is unlikely that Fudge is alive unless he himself is a death eater."

Almost instantly upon finishing that sentence there were so many people gathered around the Gryffindor table that Hermione and her immediate company relocated themselves to a more central position at one of the other house tables. The other students gladly let them move but only so that they could listen in without mashing the entire student body into one corner of the room. Everyone looked worried at best, even the Slytherins that had been her patrol unit the previous year seemed nervous. They were power hungry yes but not stupid for the most part. They knew that this was likely just as bad for them as it was for everyone else. About the only person who didn't seem worried in the least was Draco Malfoy. He was simply smirking in the group' direction from where he remained sitting.

"'The first thing she said upon agreeing to this interview was, 'I am sorry about minister Fudge. However it is appalling that this was allowed to happen in the first place. The aurors in the ministry have been slacking off for years and it must stop now. I will personally make the aurors redouble their efforts to find any and all death eaters. Not a single one will rest until every last one of them is found.' Her next statement had to do with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, 'Another issue of grave concern is the state of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, mainly the current headmaster Albus Dumbledore. He has not only directly disobeyed ministry laws on multiple occasions, but is also too lenient and often a danger to the students. He has hired a incredibly large number of dangerous professors, many of whom were part humans, completely disregarding the laws and processes for hiring such individuals and has even kept quite a few of these individuals natures a secret from the parents of the students.

"'Here are just a few of the more questionable appointments that he has made during his reign as headmaster.'" Harry wished that woman was here so he could hex her. Albus Dumbledore was clearly in control but hardly reigned over the school. He kept his anger in check there was nothing he could do about it now anyway. "'One loony 'seer' by the name of Sybill Trelawny who not only predicted the deaths of the students at least three times a week but also seemed to have no actual prophetic ability whatsoever and spent her time lecturing students pointlessly about increasingly ridiculous divination techniques. Then when I had her fired because of her incompetence, he immediately replaced her with a Centaur, without any consent at all. And not only was he a Centaur, but he was also a fugitive to his own kind! Two years earlier he hired one Remus Lupin who is a known Werewolf and has been one since he was a child, he changed in front of not only professor Severus Snape but also three students, Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley and the renown Harry Potter, nearly killing them. Severus Snape was also one of Dumbledore's more dangerous choices as he is not only a master of the dark arts but also a former death eater, or so he claims. I don't think there is anything "former" about his alliance at all!

"'His ability to keep the students safe has been proven unreliable at best as there have been numerous student injuries during the time that he has been headmaster including but not limited to the Petrification of a ghost a cat and at least four muggleborn students when a basilisk was allowed free run of the halls for nearly a whole year! Who did he blame? Voldemort of course who was not confirmed revived by he himself until two years later. Now he has not only brought back Remus Lupin to the campus for the students "protection" and has brought Leon Saren, a known Dhampyr, half vampire for those who are not well versed in the dark arts, as a psionics professor no less!

"'This kind of irresponsible behavior must stop immediately and so I have decided to bring back the high inquisitor position on a more permanent basis. I myself will be too busy with important ministry work to take the position I so dutifully held last year. However I have found the perfect man for the job. He is totally behind the ministry and has proven that by choosing to follow his ideals and the laws of the ministry over even the wishes of his own family…'" Harry started getting queasy, _She couldn't mean_, "'…a fresh young wizard who has risen fast in the ministry, but was perfectly willing to drop all his current work to take this job. One by the name of Percy Ignatius Weasley…"

Harry tuned out the rest of the article. How could this be happening? He thought he had seen and heard the last of Umbridge when the ministry men had taken her away the previous year. But now not only was she back, but she was the new minister of magic? And has assigned Percy as the Hogwarts high inquisitor? It was then that Harry noticed that the teachers were no where to be seen. They were obviously off having some meeting about the current state of events. Harry could think of little that could make this worse.

Then Harry absent mindedly pulled a small anchor out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione who stopped reading completely to take it and put it in her pocket. Harry's shock had completely disappeared at that moment, leaving him coherent enough to plan what he was going to do about this. It was inconceivable that he would be foiled two years in a row by the high inquisitor. But this time he had the advantage. He knew Percy and had the experience of the previous year. No he was not going to be beaten by a new High Inquisitor. He was going to continue with his plan for the year, and no one, not even Dumbledore himself was going to stop him.


	13. The High Inquisitor’s Proud Progeny

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 13: The High Inquisitor's Proud Progeny

The entire student body was silent when Hermione finished the article. It seemed that Harry was not the only one who was shocked at this turn of events. Ron was the first person to speak.

"How did she get into the ministry? What about everything she did at school last year! Not to mention her trying to get some dementors to eat Harry's soul!" He said, his temper flaring up.

"Fudge probably covered all of that up. After all he was one of her main supporters. Her being made to look bad would make him look bad and he was already on shaky ground already after the incident with the tri-wizard tournament and his ignorance of the death eater attacks over the next year." Hermione responded to Ron's anger in her normal rational tone.

"Bit of good that did, she probably set him up! Not that he wouldn't deserve it, the git." Ron was obviously still angry.

"I don't know about that but I don't think there is any doubt that Fudge cleaned up last year's mess. After all it was essentially entirely his fault." Padma pushed her way to the center of the group where the majority of the sixth yeah Gryffindors were sitting as she said this.

"Yeah especially considering all the complaints from the students and the staff...But on a totally different topic don't you all have some cleaning to get too? Wouldn't want to add another week to your sentence now would you?" Blaise tone alone, even without his smile told Harry that he was just trying to be a friend. And of course he was right. So with that the sixth year Gryffindors all grumbled and went off to get their cleaning gear.

After over an hour of cleaning up the same bathroom he had cleaned up before with only Neville and soap to keep him company Harry more then ready to get to sleep the only thing that stopped him was his need for a shower. He and Neville used _scourgify_ to make the trip back to the common room bearable. But even with the magical cleaning (which was a lot more thorough then taking a shower) Harry didn't feel clean until he had taken a long hot shower. After all they had just waded through what was likely not just excrement but Draco Malfoy's excrement. And lord knows where he had been. Neville seemed to concur and so for the next half hour or so they sat there in a room full of steam unable to see anything except the cloud of steam that had filled up the shower room.

The next morning wasn't much better then the previous night. Dean didn't rush out of the dorm room instantly as he had the previous few mornings. But he completely ignored Seamus, who seemed incapable of ignoring him back. The general Rush to get ready was complete chaos this morning as oppose to other mornings where there was some sort of order to it. None of them could find their wands at first and so there was a mad rush to find them before they did anything else. And they found them in increasingly weird places. Harry didn't know how but his wand had somehow gotten into Seamus dirty underpants from the previous day. Seamus apologized profusely until they found his wand which was buried in Ron's bed clothing after which everyone was too confused to care whose wand ended up where. Dean's wand had managed to crawl out of the room entirely and into the bathroom. All and all it was total luck that they found it. Wesley had taken a shower first and nearly tripped on it, tossing it out before taking his usual impossibly short shower by himself. Of course that was better then having the wand ruined by getting waterlogged. At this point sabotage was suspected but no one was sure who had done it. The obvious choice was Dean, who hadn't been on the rest of the sixth year Gryffindors good sides since the event with Seamus a few days earlier. But his wand was missing as well and when Harry thought about it…why would Dean move their wands around? It was totally out of character for him to do something silly and simply annoying like that.

Neville's wand was found by Wesley's snake who slithered out from under George's bed with it in his mouth almost getting stepped on in the process. Wesley had frantically saved it by putting it in his pocket before handing a surprised Neville his wand. _"I try to help and what do I get…"_ Harry heard the snake complaining as it slithered deeper into Wesley's pocket.

Wesley's wand had ended up in by far the oddest and most irritating position, and it was his wand that had proven it had to be sabotage. After all it wasn't exactly possible for a wand to adhere itself to the ceiling in the center of the room. In the end Harry had flown up there with his _Firebolt_ and used _finite incantatem_ in the hopes of canceling the spell. To Wesley's relief, the charm worked.

After Wesley's, Fred and George's wands were a piece of cake. Fred's wand ended up buried in Neville's clothes and George's wand ended up wrapped in Harry's invisibility cloak. Although it was doubtful that the person who did it knew that's what he was doing. Considering Harry was sure that anyone who wanted to do this and actually knew what an invisibility cloak was would have certainly made the cloak invisible.

When they were finally ready to rush off, late of course, to breakfast they found that they were not the only ones to be messed with. For in the common room Hermione, Parvati and Lavender were complaining loudly to each other about their wands being hidden. "It happened to you too?" Was Harry's greeting this morning. He was not in the mood for anything else.

"You mean the entire sixth year was targeted?" Neville said surprised.

"Apparently." Ron said, "Although I have to wonder what the point of all of that was all it did was waste our time this morning and it wasn't even that impressive a prank."

"Definitely not, and it is also in incredibly bad taste. Wands are not something one generally messed with because most wands are relatively irreplaceable." George started then continued, "But shouldn't well all be off to breakfast? I for one am hungry." With many nods of approval the sixth year Gryffindors rushed quickly towards the great hall.

Breakfast was unremarkable and Harry could only be relieved that Percy had not arrived yet. He was sure that he would be watched more so then others by Percy. Percy not only knew about their late night endeavors, but he was also here for many of them. And Harry was not looking forward to Percy Weasley with that much power.

After breakfast Harry, Neville, Wesley, and Hermione said bye miserably as they started off towards potions. They wasted no time getting to their cauldrons so that Snape would have less reason to take off points. Harry then realized that he had completely forgotten to talk to Neville about potions in the chaos of the week, he would have to do that while they were working since they seemed to be assigned together for quite a bit. But he didn't dare talk about Snape with Neville during class. He knew they were being watched like a hawk. And no matter how secretive he could be he would get caught eventually.

Only a few minutes after everyone was seated, Snape entered the room with his usual flair. Harry noticed that Professor Dumbledore had been walking with him, and that he had looked in Wesley's direction before walking off towards his office. The twinkle had never left his eyes.

Snape walked straight to the front of the class and started talking. "Today we will start preparations for a potion that requires a long period of time to make but requires relatively little effort beyond mixing the initial and final ingredients. You will need these things which are not in the regular ingredients cabinet." He then began listing them and putting them on the table. Harry noticed immediately, those were the ingredients for the polyjuice potion.

"The potion is called a polyjuice potion." Harry noticed a distinct glare in Wesley's direction as he said this. When Harry looked over to see why he found that Wesley had a look of pure terror on his face, and he was shaking in his shoes. It looked like he might faint for a second but Blaise steadied him. Snape seemed to take no notice and continued talking. "This potion allows the user to become any other person. It is not for turning into animals or inanimate objects." He smirked in Hermione's direction as he said this. _So he knew about them making the potion in their second year?_

He then dramatically walked over to Wesley and Blaise' cauldron and Wesley looked more and more terrified as he approached. Upon reaching it he said. "Now Mr. Tinderspoon, you of course are excused from this particular potion," Wesley looked incredibly relieved at that, "and of course you are as well Mr. Potter…" Harry looked up at him. What did he have anything to do with this? "…will be watching, as I see no point in wasting perfectly good rare potion ingredients on a person who has already proven he can make this potion." He totally and pointedly ignored Hermione as he said this. Obviously she was to make it anyway despite her obvious knowledge of the potion. Harry assumed that was for Pansy's sake. "Mr. Zabini will be working with Mr. Longbottom." Snape then motioned Wesley and Blaise towards Harry and Neville's cauldron before addressing Wesley and Harry again, quietly enough so that the only people who might possibly hear him were Neville and Blaise. "Now even though you are not required to actually make the potion you will be watching the others make the potion and taking notes. I expect a four foot essay on the potion from each of you turned in the day the potion is due." He turned towards the remainder of the class before saying, "Now you will all prepare the potion."

Harry didn't dare speak, he wasn't quite sure what was going on but he knew that Snape was up to something. He didn't buy the "I didn't want to waste valuable potions ingredients" as he had never said anything of the sort before and Harry was hardly the only student Snape had had who already knew how to do one of the potions. So Harry decided to look around and see what was really up.

The first thing he noticed was Wesley who was still obviously incredibly scared. His fear was almost a tangible substance something Harry himself almost felt in an odd sort of way. Harry was certain this was not normal, but what struck him odder then the fact that he felt Wesley's fear was the fact that he was this scared at all. What about the polyjuice potion would make him so terrified? And why would Wesley "of course" be excused from this potion? It just didn't make sense. Obviously this was related to what he was hiding that all the professors know as there was no other explanation. But as Harry had no idea what this was nor what a polyjuice potion had to do with it he decided to simply watch the boy more and possibly ask him what it was later before continuing to watch the class.

It became quite obvious quite quickly exactly what Snape was doing as he hovered over Neville and Blaise' cauldron watching it quite thoroughly. As Harry expected Neville was a nervous wreck and it was all Blaise could do to stop him from completely ruining what they were trying to do. Harry realized that if he and Neville were ever going to pass the class that he would have to have that serious talk with him very quickly. Blaise was at least trying to get Neville to calm down and just work on the potion. But Harry knew that that wouldn't work. Even though by this point almost none of the sixth year Gryffindors viewed the wayward Slytherin as a threat that still didn't change the fact that Neville was so scared of Snape that not even his closest friends had been able to snap him out of it. Blaise had no chance of doing that.

Apparently Snape had expected a repeat of Harry's previous years where he didn't take the Potion's class very seriously and concentrated much more on being annoyed with Snape then actually on making potions. With that not being the case anymore and Harry actually reading the class book and doing the course work, and apparently quite satisfactory, Harry guessed that he was doing this to try and single out Neville away from Harry or Hermione who were both safety nets for him as far as the class went. And unfortunately so far this was working.

What actually happened was no surprise to Harry. Neville made the same mistakes he had been making the previous class while working with Harry. Harry found himself more sympathetic to Blaise for being forced to work with the boy. Simply put his immense fear of the man had become a nuisance. So by the end of class not only was Wesley still incredibly agitated for what Harry could tell was no reason but Neville was also so flustered that he nearly knocked over his cauldron, luckily there was nothing in it so that wasn't particularly bad. But it could have been much worse.

Harry was relieved when the class ended. "Neville, I need to talk to you." He said, Neville nodded and they both headed off towards the Gryffindor common room. Harry noticed Blaise pull Wesley away somewhat secretively. And they walked the opposite direction, then they disappeared into what Harry knew had to be one of the many secret passages that were layered throughout the castle. Hermione had disappeared obviously to wherever her next class was leaving them alone in the corridor.

"What are you looking at?" Neville asked in a curious tone.

"Nothing that important," Harry answered and started walking towards their common room, Neville followed. Somewhat to change the subject he decided that then was as good a time as any to tell Neville why he wanted to talk to him. "Neville, I know how scared you are of professor Snape." Neville stopped walking and shivered noticeably. "And as your partner in that class, and now for Blaise sake as well, I implore you to please try and keep a hold of yourself. You never were bad at anything really when you put your mind to it and not what everyone else thinks. You certainly succeeded in the DA." Neville smiled at this.

"Yeah I know what you're trying to say, that I need to stop taking potions and take a different NEWT." He sighed as he said this. Harry spun around and stuck his face right up to Neville's, it obviously shocked him a bit but that was Harry's intention for now Neville was paying very close attention to what he was saying.

"No that is not what I am saying. I am saying that you need to stop worrying about Snape because he is TRYING to mess you up and just do what is required. You are better then Snape. He never beat his fears, you can." Harry wasn't sure what Neville was thinking from the expression on his face. He still seemed scared but was obviously pondering something. "Remember also that we are here to help you." He finished with, "But please don't let one grumpy professor ruin your life." With that Harry reached up and put his arm around Neville's shoulder in an awkward but friendly gesture.

Neville and Harry would have walked that way all the way back to the common room, but their height difference made that difficult at best and so instead they simply walked side by side. _I have so many good friends._ Harry thought, and for some reason he got an ominous feeling. It wasn't a fear for his friends nor an oddness that he had them but something else that he couldn't quite place. Thinking nothing of it, after all he had had ominous feelings before and only some of the times were they right. He decided to note this and then see what happens. After all that's what he had been doing so far and this year, as bad as it had been so far was infinitely better then his previous one.

After a while of thought Neville said, "You're right Harry, it's just…I don't know what to do I get so nervous when he comes around that I can think of nothing else…"

"What exactly DO you think about when he is around? Why exactly are you so scared of him anyway?"

"That's just it, I don't think of anything except for him."

"Is he doing anything? Anything bad?" Harry was beginning to think this was going to be a lot more difficult then he initially had thought as it was looking more and more like there was no rational for this fear.

"No, not really, he's just there…sneering at me…" Neville shivered obviously thinking of their Potions professor again.

"Oh." _Ah bugger this is going to be a lot harder then I thought._ As they were heading into their common room they all heard a 'hem, hem' that sounded all too familiar. Harry turned around slowly he did want to make any sudden moves. He wasn't afraid of her but he was afraid of what he would do to her when he saw her. He felt his hand quivering for his wand, itching to hex the woman he was sure was there.

He turned around only to see the very immensely short, frog faced woman he was hoping wasn't there. "Well, well Mr. Potter…I see your hand has healed, I will have to tell Mr. Weasley about that. He would be more than happy to make sure that you are kept in line." Harry almost used the Cruciatus curse he was so mad. That scar had been on the back of his hand for months after those detentions and he was happy when it disappeared as he wasn't even sure it would. To think that people made this woman their minister willingly put shivers down his spine.

"I couldn't come to Hogwarts without visiting my favorite students in Gryffindor house." Her face suddenly and obviously was made into a sneer. "And I see you are still here." She was now obviously looking behind her towards someone. Harry looked and found Remus, Snape, Saren, and McGonagall standing behind him as well as Dumbledore himself.

"Now, now there is not need for that here Dolores." Dumbledore said. If there was a negative thought in his mind at all Harry could not see it. He seemed giddy as he ever had. "Now where is Mr. Weasley so we can show him to his room?"

Harry smiled this was the best thing that could be done given the circumstances. These were the very professors that were mentioned, plus McGonagall, but he had been present during Umbridge's test of her teaching ability and so knew that even if she had no reason to officially denounce the woman, she hated her all the same.

"That will be fine." Harry heard Percy's voice from behind Umbridge, he then saw the man, for that's what he was now a man, walk up from behind her. If any Weasley had changed since Harry had last seen him it was Percy. Where curly fairly nappy hair had been was now short clean hair, with the only note of curls being a slight wave in the slightly longer bangs over his forehead. He had either worked out or simply grown more as well now he had broad shoulders and noticeable musculature, something he never had associated with Percy before. Also his glasses had been replaces with something likely akin to wizarding contacts for his blue eyes shined on his face directly instead of behind his square rimmed spectacles. All in all he looked a lot more impressive then he had even looked during the trial the previous year. His voice was the one thing that made Harry sure it was in fact the person he had known since his first year here. He talked a lot less haughtily however, more composed and with etiquette. Harry could clearly see that while his outward appearance was of a more composed individual, he had not lost his ambition or his controlling nature. He did not know why he knew this but he did. Still Harry was surprised by the new look and demeanor and hoped that this meant there was a change he couldn't see.

"Come, come Mr. Weasley. It had been too long, too long indeed." Dumbledore called him as if he were an old friend and not sent here to control the school.

"Thank you Albus, I hope we can work fine together for the good of the students." Even though they were acting cordial and there was no outward appearance of negativity, Harry could feel the tension between them.

Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and then a voice he recognized entered his head. "That's it Harry." Saren's voice said to his mind through the hand that he knew was his. "You are becoming more attuned to the feelings around you." The hand then left, and the professors walked off towards the great hall. Dolores Umbridge followed but he could feel a tangible hatred in her. It was so obvious that he was sure he wasn't the only one who felt it and so when he turned around and saw Blaise, Wesley and even Neville shaking he was not surprised.

"That was the most tense situation I have ever seen." Wesley said.

"Well I don't know about that, I certainly felt something." Blaise said. Harry noticed he was holding Wesley's shoulder protectively as Harry imagined an older brother might do. "I certainly hope that that woman leaves soon though. I hated her even when she was ok with the members of my house. Apparently our Psionics class is paying off more then one might think, huh Harry?"

"Apparently…" Harry wasn't at all surprised that he could feel that. And he was certain that it had nothing to do with his psionics class at all. It had to do with whatever was going on, for he was certain that something was. It was only a matter of time before that something came to pass.

Lunch was rather interesting that day. It was announced not far after Harry's run in with Umbridge that everyone was to attend lunch that day. Harry was not surprised, nor very happy at this notion as he would just assume forget that Umbridge and Percy were here.

So when he got there, at the very last second of course to limit his time with "that woman" as they had began calling her, he was not surprised to see her standing, in Dumbledore's chair no less with Percy standing next to her looking as pristine as ever. He quickly sat down to avoid being singled out although he was sure that he would be. Almost all of the sixth year Gryffindors as well as almost everyone else had done almost the same thing and so he wasn't sitting down on his own. A large group of students were all scrambling to get to their places. So at least he wasn't the last one in.

"Hem, hem…" Umbridge's call to attention was abrupt and obviously for effect since she had the attention of everyone in the room already. Harry could tell that even though she was minister of magic and that she claimed power that she was still the arrogant fake woman who wanted everyone to like and adore her as well as agree with her. Or at least wanted everyone to pretend to, appearances meant everything to this woman.

"As you all likely know I am the minister of magic. I know quite a few of you from my gracious choice to teach you all the correct ministry standards for defense against the dark arts last year. Now I have seen that there are many new faces on the staff as well as the student body." She seemed to glare at the Gryffindor table as she said this, Wesley shrunk obviously from her glare. "Now I have tested the returning teachers and have, grudgingly with some of them, allowed them to continue teaching as they were still teaching using ministry standard techniques. Now I will not be able to…" Suddenly a clicking sound that sounded not a lot different from horse trotting could be heard from the hallway. Umbridge visibly shook and her strong stance faltered. "…make sure that all of your…" At this point Firenze the Centaur walked into the room.

He walked towards the front of the room and then said, "Now that I have made an appearance can I go now?" It was directed at Dumbledore, not Dolores Umbridge. However Umbridge seemed to have frozen in horror staring at the centaur and so could not respond. Dumbledore simply nodded and that was the last they saw of the centaur that day. Harry almost wanted to laugh he remembered how the centaurs had carried her off last year, he only wished it would happen again, and that this time no one was there to rescue her.

After Firenze had left and Umbridge seemed sure that he had gone. She started her lecture again with another "Hem, hem…" although this one seemed even more forced then the other one, and it seemed even more so then before to Harry that she was not cut out for positions of power in the slightest.

"Now as I was saying. I will not be able to look in on your classes to make sure that they are being taught by ministry standards, however Mr. Weasley will be here in my stead and it is he who will make sure that you are being taught effectively and that the rules are akin to what Hogwarts has been known for these many years." Harry was certain that none of these things were true. And from the looks that were being given to her from around the room, he was not the only person thinking this. "And here he is, the newly appointed Hogwarts High Inquisitor, Percy Weasley!"

Percy stepped up from his chair looking very much as he had when Harry saw him in the hallway. There were gasps from many of the older students, including the entire Weasley family that was sitting at his table. Charlie was looking at his brother rather suspiciously from his spot at the teachers table which at the moment was behind Percy's field of vision. It seemed that of the people in the room only Dumbledore himself and Hagrid were totally nonplussed at these turn of events. Harry new better of Dumbledore, he was one of the best people Harry knew at putting up fronts. And Hagrid wouldn't be plussed by much of anything, considering that he was sent to Azkaban for a few months and all it caused him when he thought of it was a slight shiver. And after meeting the Dementors the next year Harry was sure that any other man would be greatly more affected by even a few days in that place then that.

"Hello students, many of you may recognize me as a previous prefect and head boy. Now I intend to fulfill my promise to both the ministry with which I work and the school which I hold dear. I promise to make sure that what goes on here at school is the absolute best standard for both students learning and safety." His eyes darted to the Gryffindor table and Harry for a brief but obvious second. Harry thought he could see both compassion and disdain in that brief look. Apparently Percy wasn't as totally cold as he remembered.

"Now I have taken enough of your time and I hope to not be a burden on your normal school life." With that he sat down with a pristine smile on his face and lunch was served.

"This is so odd, I mean it is definitely Percy but he's so different." Ron said from Harry's left as he stuffed his face with food.

"I think we should be even more wary of him then ever before. After all he is working for Umbridge and he did send you that letter last year." Hermione said to Ron across Harry and Wesley.

"He looks different but I can see that he is the same old Percy." Fred said in an obviously displeased voice, "that same old git. Nothing good will come of this appointment I can tell you that."

"Unless of course we make it happen." George put in with a smile. Everyone else at the table looked at him. "Oh come on you don't think he was always like this do you? I mean he was a bit more serious when he was younger but he wasn't a real git until he was made a prefect and got on a massive power trip. I for one think that he could be turned form the dark side. After all, he is a Weasley, and getting into trouble seems to be a family trait, one that I rather enjoy mind you." His smile turned into a full grown grin at this, and then he looked at Fred who was also grinning, they were obviously planning something.

Harry thought about Arthur, Bill, Charlie, Ron, Ginny, and even Molly… They were definitely a group that invited trouble or at least something beyond the norm. Percy seemed to be the only one who didn't have that in him although George would know him better. Hr turned to Ron and asked. "Is there any truth to what George said about him?"

"He certainly got worse after being made a prefect. But he never really was as fun loving as the rest of us. However Fred and George would know what he was like as a kid a lot more then me since my earliest clear memory of him is when he was eight, and it is of him scolding me for something that I did." Ron sighed and grinned slightly at the memory, however he had not stopped eating though out the entire sentence.

"Well at the very least he will be better then Umbridge." Neville said.

"I certainly hope so…" Seamus said rather timidly, he hadn't exactly been on their side that year. It was obvious to Harry that he hated Umbridge as much as anyone else but was still worried about keeping his friends.

Harry thought he'd change the subject and try and cheer everyone up. "Well, at least now we have an actual defense against the dark arts teacher. I wonder what we'll be doing in class today?"

"I heard from Padma that it is going to be curse dodging." Parvati said.

"Yeah, I think that after that horrible display by the larger portion of the class who were not, you know, with Expelliarmus that she thought we would need it." Lavender said.

"Yeah…well there is no time like the present to find out now is there?" and as Harry said that they headed off towards the sixth year NEWTs Auditorium.

The room was set up essentially the same way as it had been the previous week with the desks in two groups with a walkway in between them. As expected many of the people there were sitting in groups based on house. Harry did notice that a group of varied robed individuals were sitting up near the front. As Harry expected the group was the DA members who had decided to sit together outside of the normal house location. Harry also noticed Blaise sitting next to Justin, a bold statement on both their parts. Of course many of the DA members present were in either the potions or the Psionics class so it wasn't that bold from their point of view but it spoke wonders in front of everyone else.

The Gryffindors (all of whom were also DA members) all decided to sit with that group. As they headed over to their seats Blaise called to Wesley to come sit next to him. There they started whispering to each other about something. Harry noticed Justin was paying sloe attention to their conversation as well and soon the three of them were talking about who knows what. It was probably the oddest sight in Hogwarts history and Harry wasn't the only one to notice… a Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor and a Slytherin talking to each other friendly and secretively without a care of who saw them? It was unexpected to say the least. Although with those three Harry was not surprised.

Before anything else of note happened, Tonks entered the auditorium and walked up to the front of the room. She almost tripped on the way there but miraculously managed to steady herself doing nothing more then grabbing the back of a random Ravenclaw's chair. Harry just shook his head. He was starting to think that Tonks did these things partially on purpose. After all, it did set her apart from everyone else in some other way then being a metamorphmagus. And she was being a lot clumsier as of late then she had been the previous year.

Upon reaching the front of the room she hopped up onto the stage which earned a gasp from some of the students at the feat of non clumsy acrobatics, as unimpressive as it would have been had anyone else been doing it. Then again they had never seen her do the things Harry had seen her do, such as that night at the ministry.

This time he let the anger from that thought flow through him, trying to test out what Saren was saying. And while he felt incredibly angry he noticed that he felt a lot less violent than when he had been trying to hold it back. In fact oddly enough he felt angry and calm but alert much like he was on a quidditch induced adrenaline high. He couldn't explain it in any other way, but it was certainly a better way of being angry then any other he had ever experienced before.

"I was somewhat unimpressed with your display with the Disarming Charm last week. Many of you don't seem to have been taught anything about spell aiming or evasion. Now I am aware that this is mostly do to a lack of training in this class do to the available teachers but that does not change the fact that we have a lot of work ahead of us as I catch you up to speed. So today we are going to work on curse dodging. But before we get started I want to show you why curse dodging is so important as many of you would rather get to the casting of counter curses before that. But curse dodging should ALWAYS be your first line of defense with countercurses being second as one can still fire off curses while dodging and there are a few dangerous or deadly curses which there is no countercurse for. The last thing to note is that often times one will have no idea what curse is being shot at them and so evasion is preferable to trying random counter curses in the little bit of time before it hits you." Tonks looked at the class as she said this before smiling and saying. "So let's get blimey started then! All of you banish your desks to the wall." Again the majority of the desks were destroyed upon hitting the wall. Tonks just blinked at the class with a queer expression on her face before saying. "I also think you should work on controlling your banishing charms…"

Tonks then pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. "Ok now for a demonstration of what real curse dodging is and why it is important. I need Harry Potter," Harry looked up at her and raised his eyebrow. She motioned him up to the stage before continuing. "Ronald Weasley," Ron walked up to the stage with an equally odd look on his face. "Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom." Hermione and Neville walked up as well, Neville looked totally confused but it was apparent that Hermione knew exactly what was going on.

There was laughing form the Slytherin section of the audience. "So what is going on? Are you going to have THEM cast curses at you to dodge? As I believe there would be much better choices…" Draco Malfoy's voice rang out throughout the auditorium.

Tonks did not get angry instead she smiled in his direction and said. "No, you, and I do mean ALL of you," she gestured to the entire class as she said this, "are going to try and disarm them." That brought laughing form the entire Slytherin section and confused looks form all but the members of the DA. She ignored this and turned to the four of them. Suddenly it was not lost on him that these were the four people in the class who had not only been with him at the department of mysteries but three of whom had been with him thought the majority of his misadventures. "You are to treat this as if you were being attacked by death eaters without a wand and any of those curses could be the _avada__ kedavra_."

Harry understood now, Tonks wasn't talking about curse dodging in a one on one dueling or fair situation she was talking about general curse dodging in life or death situations which all four of them had been in if nothing else last year. Tonks then moved off the stage where Harry looked around for things to hide behind and for other things. He was too preoccupied to see what everyone else was doing. Harry had found his best bet from his current position and so he waited for whatever signal was to come from Tonks.

She yelled "Now" and Harry made his move. A mad dash and dive behind the suit of armor to his left. When he was sure he was safe, and not touching the armor lest it get disarmed form him by a spell he looked to see what everyone else had done. Neville had dove behind the desk and was looking around form behind it with one eye. Ron had dove over the table behind them, he was tall enough to where it wasn't a big jump for him, and had laid down on the floor behind one of the benches. Hermione had done the most interesting thing. She had conjured a statue of herself and was now ducking behind it.

There was more laughing from the Slytherin section of the class. "I thought this was supposed to be curse dodging? Not hide and seek! And they say Gryffindors have courage! HA! That's a riot!" Harry had half a mind to do something but Hermione beat him to it. She quickly stuck her upper body out form behind the statue pointed her wand at him and said "Abra Kadabra!" incredibly loudly. Harry just about died laughing as Draco dove out of the way of nothing. Justin, Dean and a few others who were obviously muggle born and noticed the well known fake magic words that sounded quite similar to the killing curse, were laughing. Most of the rest of the class was either scared or confused. Tonks was trying to remain composed. Harry new she wasn't muggle born but she obviously was aware of the joke. Malfoy stood up and walked to his seat obviously very annoyed at the showing of cowardice in front of almost his entire year.

"Thank you Ms. Granger for that showing of the importance of what you have just seen." She walked over to where Harry was standing. "If all of those spells you cast HAD in fact been the killing curse. Then they did exactly what they needed to do to ensure survival as an object by its very nature cannot be killed."

Wesley raised his hand, a very confused expression on his face. "You keep mentioning a 'the killing curse…' What curse is that? I have never heard of a curse that's sole purpose it to kill its target." He asked, obviously totally at a loss about something. Everyone in the room looked at him.

"God you Americans are so ignorant of the magical world!" Draco Malfoy sneered in Wesley's direction. Harry wasn't so sure about that, Wesley wasn't exactly the greatest wizard Harry had ever seen but he was hardly ignorant. Maybe of British magical custom but he did seem rather knowledgeable about the things he actually studied. Which Harry had to admit didn't' seem to be many of the things that they had studied here, "The killing curse, _avada__ kedavra_."

A strange look of recognition and yet more confusion went over his face before another look of intense realization. He then raised his hand again. No one had stopped looking at him in the first place and so after a few seconds he said. "You know Hermione and Harry's hiding places could have been ineffective against that particular charm." His voice sounded totally confident, almost Hermione like as he talked. This seemed rather odd to Harry as just a few seconds ago he had no idea what spell they were actually talking about. He also noticed and was obviously not the only person to notice since Tonks was even looking at him with a really queer expression on her face that Wesley had referred to it as a charm and not a curse. "That statue Hermione conjured could have been completely negated by the charm and if the suit of armor was magically held together then it would be simple for it to be broken with the very same." He sounded like he knew what he was talking about but it made no sense to Harry. He had never heard any of this before.

Tonks smiled before saying, "Actually, Mr. Tinderspoon is right. For some reason that is yet to be explained the killing curse has also been found to be effective at breaking weaker enchantments when it hits them. No one as of yet knows exactly why this is the case." Wesley looked like he was about to say something else but thought the better of it and stopped.

Tonks continued as if Wesley had never asked his question. "So now here is the important list of what NOT to do when curse dodging. Do not wait for the caster to cast a curse at you to evade it many curse are rather instantaneous and even waiting for the caster to say the incantation to know what it is can be very hazardous to one's health. Do not be afraid to get dirty," she looked directly at Malfoy as she said this, "it is very important that you remember that you need not stay on your feet and that you can evade in any direction not just left and right. Do not get caught on the ground however and whenever you dodge there always get up as quickly as possible or be ready to move from your current position. Last, do not get hit by unknown green curses at any cost as the killing curse is green." Harry could not agree with this note more. No one responded or raised their hands and so the class was continued.

As before the class split up into pairs and then the remainder of the class was spent practicing dodging using _expelliarmus_. As Harry had expected the DA members did much better then the others at this. Wesley was a noted exception to this and again, much like with the _expelliarmus_ practice, he was not hit by a single curse. Harry was also incredibly impressed with his agility. He did a back flip at one point in which his body seemed to bend in a way that no human possibly could. Obviously he must have been seeing things, but the flip was really cool none the less. Wesley seemed to have a quick bouncy movement style overall that none of the other members of the class had, even Tonks seemed to notice this and after a while she stopped the class and specifically addressed Wesley. "Wow, those are some impressive moves you got there. I wonder… where did you learn them?"

Wesley blushed, "Standard dueling evasion tactics in my old schools physical education class. However, I was always really good at them though. My body is apparently built for that sort of thing." Tonks smiled a knowing smile and again Harry was at a loss as to what the boy could be hiding, and it was beginning to annoy him. Hermione's eyes grew big as she obviously got whatever had transpired between them. Harry's annoyance only got worse as he felt like he was one of the few people he knew that was not in on the secret.

"Your school had a physical education class?" Malfoy asked incredulously, "Why would a Wizarding school need that?"

Wesley looked at him with a raised eyebrow and simply said, "Why not?"

Tonks quickly defused the situation by having Wesley demonstrate his style to the rest of the class. Harry noticed that he seemed a lot less fluid during the demonstration then when he was actually dodging curses. When he was actually dodging curses his movements were fluid and graceful, so fluid it seemed his body was more like a liquid then a solid. When demonstrating though it was quite obvious to Harry that he was going through the motions. He thought that Hermione noticed this too, and it was rather obvious that Blaise did (his face was furrowed in thought, and he had to as he was Wesley's original partner) but he wasn't sure about the rest of the class. Tonks likely noticed this too but didn't say anything about that. Instead she clapped her hands and said, "Impressive! I honestly wish we studied more gymnastics in our programs at school, at least about curse dodging. I have been hit by too many curses to count and that seems largely do to a lack of training on our part in that respect." Harry noted that as well. It also struck him that there was no equivalent of a physical education class at Hogwarts. It was like once one is a wizard their body becomes irrelevant because their magic can do all the necessary work. Of course Harry having grown up in muggle household understood how foolish that was. He would no more ignore his body then his wand. He would have to talk with Remus about getting an exercise program together. He really wasn't sure what that would entail (after all he hadn't exactly had one even while at the Dursleys) but he figured that if any wizard might know about that, he would, either that or one of then Aurors in the order.

The rest of the class was spent with more dodging and Wesley continued to impress Harry with his agility. He noticed Hermione was spending more time staring at the boy then paying attention to Lavender (who was partnered with her) and so got disarmed quite a few times more then she should have been. Ron seemed to be taking this class incredibly seriously, however Harry wasn't really into it right now. It wasn't that he didn't think it was important more like he had too many other things on his mind and so got hit a few times when he really shouldn't have. Ron obviously noticed this but didn't comment on it at all.

Harry waned to talk to Wesley after class even more now then after potions but he and Blaise had rushed off and disappeared down some random corridor before he could get his attention. So instead he looked for Hermione, who had also already left for her next class. Having run out of options he decided to simply follow Ron to the common room, annoyed with his failure at gathering the information he desired.

"That was something else that was." Ron said to Harry as they were walking up one of the moving staircases. "I mean I know that we were missing out on our defense against the dark arts classes but I wasn't aware we were missing out THAT much. I feel gypped! If all of our defense against the dark arts classes were that good we wouldn't have ended up in half of the messes we got into! I mean, curse dodging? No other defense against the darks arts, or dueling teacher for that matter ever mentions dodging curses. I suppose counter curses are thought to be more effective in this day and age but still…" Harry tuned out the remainder of Ron's rant about how bad their defense against the dark arts classes had been as for the most part he had heard it all before.

When he reached the common room and Ron had finally stopped ranting, Harry decided to go invite Neville, Dean, and just to see how he would react, Wesley to the next occlumency lesson. He wasn't exactly sure how however and he thought about this as he accompanied a now yawning Ron to their dorm.

At least he didn't have to go find them as Dean, Neville and Wesley were all there. But he was totally at a loss as to how to approach them about the occlumency lesson, especially Dean who would have to be convinced that it was worth working in the same room as Seamus. In the end he just decided that the truth was simple and the better part of valor. That and having his dorm mates know would at least ensure that they could practice without having to hide information from them. He wouldn't give them the whole story as Saren had said that he would deal with that, but he would at least tell them about the lessons.

"Neville, Wesley, Dean…" Harry said as he entered the room. Neville looked up at him with a worried expression, Wesley looked at him with a curious one and Dean glared at him. _That did not go as well as I would hope._ "Me, Ron, Hermione and Seamus are doing Occlumency lessons with our psionics instructor, Professor Saren. He has invited you along if you're interested…" Harry realized how crappy that had sounded before he even finished. But what else could he say? And it was the truth.

Wesley responded first with a relieved, "No thank you." He said simply with no explanation.

Neville responded next with a shrug, "Ok… I suppose it couldn't hurt could it? After all I hear occlumency is supposed to help you control your emotions and so it should help me get over my fear of p… p…. professor Snape… right?" Neville was obviously nervous but did look serious however scared might may be.

Dean looked indecisive about the matter, on one hand it was fairly obvious he wanted to do it. He also looked very tired and frazzled, obviously missing not just Seamus but all of his friends. After a few minutes of thought he very cautiously said, "Yes. But I'm… I'm… I'm not sure I'm totally ready. I mean he FANCIED me!" Suddenly Harry knew that there was much more to this then just the oddness or wrongness of being fancied by a guy, or even your best friend. Dean had personal reasons for this, whether he wanted them known or not. _Whether he even KNOWS them or not..._

Harry could see that talking wasn't going to help the situation, however from what he got of Saren this would end up better before it ended up worse. Professor Saren seemed to have a knack with getting people to face their own problems and successfully get beyond them one that very few people had.

The remainder of the day went rather uneventfully, Harry and Neville went back to the Prefect Bathroom near Slytherin and found it in similar shambles to how it had been the previous times they had been there and after cleaning that up they took long showers and then fell into totally blissful sleep. Something Harry hadn't had since Sirius death.

The next Day's Herbology class was spent working on a rather ordinary looking plant that was simply called a _Xiv_, where the name came from was anyone's guess but the plant seemed to have magical properties even if the plant itself seemed totally ordinary. Professor sprout had explained that the reason it is considered a NEWTs class plant is simply because it was deemed inappropriate for younger students because of one of its more commonly used for properties. It was obvious what that was, as soon as he entered the room he felt his body get hot and he started to notice the little things about everyone in the room. Other parts of him also responded to the smell of the plant and it seemed like he was not the only one. Neville and Ron were looking around at the girls a bit too much for their own good, and Harry was having a difficult time not looking as well. The other students were as well and it wasn't until professor Sprout came out with face masks that the class settled down and she started explaining what it was they were looking at.

"Xivs are very docile plants that are mainly used for healing and recreational purposes." She smiled mischievously as she said this. "They are very common, and their leaves, when dried, are very useful for many healing potions including the bone regrowth and dreamless sleep potions." The rest of the class was spent on how to take care of the plant. Which Harry found to be incredibly boring as it was common muggle gardening techniques as oppose to the magical things for other plants they were working on. "Sometime wands need to be discarded for good old dirtying of hands I always say." Professor Sprout had said during the class. Other then Neville and Justin who seemed to rather enjoy the work, most everyone was ready to leave at the end of class.

Their second charms class was spent reviewing the Charms of the previous year and then practicing the _alacritis_ charm again. By the end of class everyone was ready to go. Although they could all hear though as everyone, except Wesley who still caused pillows to explode, had managed to slow their stops to the point where the bangs were instead small bashing sounds almost like what one would her playing cricket or croquet. In fact the whole evening was rather docile ending again with Neville and Harry in the shower for half an hour before falling asleep.

The next day's transfiguration class was essentially identical to the first one with McGonagall spending the majority of her time tormenting Wesley. So much so that Harry had blocked most of it out, instead daydreaming about quidditch.

Again they spent the remainder of the day in the library so very quickly Harry found himself walking to professor Saren's room with Ron, Hermione, Seamus, Neville, Dean (who was keeping Ron between him and Seamus), Parvati and Lavender (whom Hermione had apparently invited). Upon entering the room Lavender, Parvati, Neville and Dean gasped as they saw Saren floating above the ground in a lotus position much like he was at the beginning of their psionics class. However this time he was balancing his wand, point down, on his nose which was pointed towards the ceiling. After the other things he had seen his professor do, he was not surprised in the least bit.

"I see you all decided to come." He said then leapt form his position to a standing one catching his wand in the process. Neville, Dean, Parvati and Lavender looked even more stunned at this.

"That was really impressive." Neville said.

"Well, I suppose it could be but really all it requires is a bit of balance and a lot of focus." Saren used his calming tone as he said this. "But on to more important things than balancing wands. I take it you are here because you were invited to learn occlumency?" The four new comers nodded. "Then were you told why?"

Dean and Neville looked confused but Lavender stepped forward. "Because we are likely in danger of attack do to our proximity to Hermione, and thus Harry and because he who must not be named is a legillimencer."

Saren smiled. "That is exactly right…Neville and Dean I trust you understand this now then as well?" They both nodded, although Dean's nod was somewhat forced.

"Um…are you really a Dhampyr?" Parvati asked nervously. "Because we read in the daily prophet…"

"Yes I am, and if that bothers you then you may leave whenever you wish." Parvati looked anything but nervous, if anything she was more intrigued. Lavender looked rather nervous however, and Dean looked lost. "Well, if you have no other questions I would like to get started."

Dean raised his hand squeamishly, "Um…yes what exactly are we learning here?"

"How to defend your mind from outside attack and to focus your thoughts," replied Saren.

"Um…I think maybe we should watch a lesson first." Neville said thoughtfully "After all I for one have no idea what this would entail and I wouldn't want to get myself into something I can't handle."

"Of course," Saren replied. "And even if you do take part in the lessons you are free to stop at any time. The only thing we require of you all is to not tell anyone not in this room right now about this." There was noticeable relief from the four students. "Well, if there are no more setbacks I would prefer to begin. Wouldn't want to keep us all up too late now would we?" He smiled at the group knowingly.

Neville raised his hand shakily, Saren responded with. "Why bother, you likely know when interruption is not warranted and other then that there is nothing here that is too personal to ask or reveal as anything could be revealed her as a part of the training." Dean, Parvati, and Lavender looked less inclined again after that statement. Neville seemed to not care.

"How can you be this able if you're blind?" Neville asked quickly and shakily.

Saren smirked. "Actually I'm surprised no one asked me that sooner." He then twirled his wand in his hand. "It is the reason I learned and eventually mastered the arts of the mind in the first place, to be able to function as well as possible despite my lack of sight. It is simply a matter of using the rest of my five senses, along with a honed sixth sense and a seventh one provided by a mental discipline. Simple really, the sixth sense is the sense of where the rest of ones body is relative to itself that many of us take for granted. The seventh sense is truly a magical one it is the sense of patterns of emotion and thought that mark each individual and everything else for that matter."

This time it was Hermione who responded. "So you can read minds without legillimency?" She asked more intrigued then scared, which is what that thought had obviously triggered in everyone else.

"No, not the actual thoughts, that is too much for a simple sense to configure. However general feelings are readily available much as one could see them but looking at bodily motions or hear them in the tone of voice. It is actually one of the more basic things we are going to be learning in class. As for the patterns of thought, it is not actually the thoughts themselves simply how they are wired. It allows me to tell how organized one's thought process is, well at least from my point of view anyway, and allows me to tell different people apart from each other without having them speak as two people with the same thoughts is like two people with the same voice...it doesn't happen." That made sense and it explained how he seemed to always know who was who despite not being able to see them. "Is that all?" No one said anything more. "Ok then, let us get started. I know that Severus started immediately with a mental assault, I find that incredibly ludicrous, the man always was like that though, jumping into things in the middle even when he was a boy." His smile faltered as he said this. "If he knew something he always assumed that everybody knew it or was simply incompetent.

"In any case what would be a much more productive use of this time at least until you are able enough with this to defend your minds is to practice accessing emotions and feeling them. Some would say controlling them, but as I have said before emotions are not something that we can control simply manipulate, steer the direction of. Of course you must be able to truly feel your emotions before you can even dream of really manipulating them in a useful fashion. Remember that controlling and suppressing are two very different things. You may think that you are controlling them by suppressing them but you are in fact simply blocking them off to be released later. Such is the nature of things that flow one can only block so much water with one dam, and if that water keeps getting greater and greater eventually it will flow over the top of it, or worse…break it altogether."

Saren then smirked again. "Oh my! But isn't that a useless metaphor? I can't believe I just told you that! It didn't help me one bit when Dumbledore told me that those years ago at all. But it is about the best metaphor for it I can think of. Really just let yourself feel your emotions, that's all." He then turned his head in Ron's direction before saying. "And it would be good to note that feeling an emotion and reacting to it are two very different things. Emotion can lead to action however it is not an excuse nor cause for it, remember that. As for how you do this it is up to you, if you wish I will legillimens them to the surface for you but I would rather you learn how to feel them on your own."

He then went over to Dean and pulled him aside, and that was the last thing that Harry actually noticed as he got lost in his own feeling. Saren had been right about emotion with everything he had said. He realized that while h had been reacting to his emotions for a while now he hadn't really been feeling them. They had translated themselves into actions and thoughts but not true feelings. And so as he sat there he was finding it rather easy to simply feel himself. In fact it was much easier then doing anything else, as it required no effort whatsoever. Being angry had required energy however feeling anger was totally different. It was in fact calming to feel angry. However Harry wasn't angry right now he was happy. He wouldn't exactly explain why but this was also very different then it had been before. His happiness was always outwardly directed before, based on a person place or event. Here it was inwardly directed and he was finding it rather easy to simply be happy for absolutely no reason. He just let the emotion flow through him as he had let the anger flow through him earlier.

When he let himself come back form the place of pure feeling he had been in (at some point that he could not remember, Harry had shut his eyes) he found it incredibly easy to concentrate on whatever was going on around him, he also felt a lot more alert and generally more energetic. However again it was not an active form of energy, it was calm yet strong. It was impossible to describe the feeling, he knew it was happiness but he could not in any way describe exactly how it felt. Only that it was better then any other feeling he had ever felt in his entire life. When he looked at Saren, he was smiling in his direction.

Harry looked around while in this sate and noticed that the rest of the group was in varying states of mind. Seamus seemed to be simply sitting there concentrating, although he seemed rather serene other then his eyebrows which were furrowing in concentration. Ron was obviously annoyed with himself and was pacing around obviously trying to stop himself but being unable to control his body's reaction to his emotion. Ron apparently was still too outwardly directed to be able to simply feel. Dean and Neville were sitting there and it seemed form their facial expressions that they were in the process of at least trying to do what he had done. He had no way of knowing whether they had succeeded or not. Lavender was simply watching the group with interest and Parvati was intently concentrating on some random point in the room.

It was Hermione who was doing the worst however. She was obviously concentrating incredibly hard and getting more and more angry at herself as she failed at what she was trying to do. Harry found it rather amusing that she was so close and yet so far form where she was trying to get. Then again that was just it. They were all trying. He realized that he hadn't really done anything, in fact the opposite he had basically completely cleared his mind of all effort and let everything just happen. He thought about saying something but it didn't seem prudent after all he realized that it would not help to tell them not to try…in fact he figured it would likely not make any sense at all.

"You seem to have come a log way from the boy who attacked me a week ago." Saren's voice appeared in his head. "Had an epiphany?"

Harry thought back, "No, not really, it simply seems that my apathetic way of doing things has actually proved beneficial for once."

Harry heard laughing before another thought entered his mind, "That it did, it is incredibly apathetic how you get to simply feel. However apathy may get you there but it won't help you do anything while your there, remember that. Apathy is not a bad thing necessarily but there are times when it is prudent and times when it is not. And most times it is not, however I will admit that I wish the other people in here were a bit more apathetic then they are. Neville and Seamus seem to be catching on quite fast. However Ron and Hermione, specifically Hermione have a long way to go. I think I am going to need to talk to them individually about this, as they both seem to be caught up too much on thinking about emotion as oppose to actually feeling it…" Harry simply nodded before letting himself get lost in the feelings again, this time choosing excitement which he found to be a totally different feeling then happiness.

It appeared that everyone had chosen to stick with the lessons for the moment. But Harry was too lost in his own feelings to really get that, they were wonderful and seemed to protect him from his more annoying thoughts while he did nothing but feel them. SO he really just glided around until he found himself on his bed falling into what was likely the best sleep he had gotten in his like. Loosely aware of a warning in Saren's voice about the dangers of ignoring thought. What did he need thought for? It only brought him pain…

He saw a flash of light and then he felt his scar burn. His vision had only two things in it, a silhouette of two people writhing in identical pain. Followed by the face of Percy Weasley…

Afterthoughts

Sorry for the immense delay again I was having difficulty with how to get from important scene to important scene. However now I can get to the better stuff like the DA FINALLY. In any case hopefully I will be updating more often. Oh and I am generally happier and more ready to write when I get reviews specifically reviews that are more then just "here I am still reading" although any reviews are nice, I like to know if my story is actually being read. In any case I may rewrite some scenes in this chapter as by the end of it something I rushed just to get them done. :)


	14. It Begins

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 14: It Begins

Harry had barely remembered the Dream he had had that night. He was too high on his new found ability to feel without thinking, and turn any emotion he had into a calming experience. So when a dream that was mostly about pain came into his memory, he washed himself away into the calm, using the pain he had felt as the jumping off point.

Because of this fact he could barely remember the weekend, he was loosely aware of talking to Hermione about the DA and when the next meeting should be. But he was too lost in his own feelings to care. So when Hermione and Ron cornered him in the common room and told him the meeting was tonight he was surprised to say the least.

"What? Why tonight?" He asked, rather shocked that he had had no time to prepare a lesson.

"Because everyone could make it, Harry…you have been in a stupor since that lesson. You know that you have POTIONS this morning!" Hermione said.

Harry was shocked…Potions? Did that mean that he had completely missed his care of magical creatures and even worse psionics class in his stupor? He was sure that Charlie and knew for a fact that Saren would notice. And he was positive that the other members of the class would notice too. Worse he had no idea what they had gone over in either.

"I can't go to potions I need to plan the lesson for today!" He spat in Hermione's face, at the very least having the sense to not yell it for the common room to hear.

Ron and Hermione looked at each other before turning to Harry. "This meeting isn't for a lesson, it is to decide who we invite remember? We talked about it two weeks ago!" Hermione was adamant and sounded quite annoyed.

"Come on now, where have ya been mate. You haven't been here since that last lesson." Ron said concern etched on his face.

Harry didn't respond, truth be told he had no idea how to respond because he had no idea what the answer to that question was. He hadn't known anything really since he had started feeling without thought. He was beginning to see why Saren had given him that warning. But he knew he could handle it, after all he had been thinking his entire life what's a few bouts without thought every once in a while?

"We found a new place for it as well." Ron said, "Were going to hold it in the third floor corridor on the left side." He continued as he and Hermione walked off towards breakfast.

Harry remembered what had happened there, and that memory more so then making him angry made him scared. So he felt the fear and fell into a stupor again. The day got lost in that stupor, especially considering that they were learning more about the polyjuice potion. Or at least Harry assumed they were since he was completely useless in potions, couldn't remember doing anything except standing around staring into space and Snape hadn't bothered him at all.

Defense against the dark arts was another story. He kept getting strange looks and Tonks stopped him to talk to him quite a few times. Of course he couldn't remember a word she had said to him. Nor what the lesson had been about. He could remember the fact that there was a lesson and that everyone else seemed to enjoy it. But he had been lost all day.

"WHAT IS WITH YOU?" A really loud yell directly into his ear snapped him out of his delirium. Harry looked up he was in the great hall eating dinner. Well more like sitting staring at his dinner. He suddenly felt incredibly hungry like he hadn't eaten in a few days. He started ravenously eating before he even noticed that the entire great hall was staring at him. Someone was standing right behind him, the person who had knocked him back to reality the person who had taken him from his place of peace. He suddenly felt an incredible spike of anger…but it wasn't anger it was something else…because he couldn't just feel it. It was more then an emotion it was an urge to turn around and Hex whoever had done that to him.

He quickly turned around drew his wand and found his hand caught by a very intrigued looking Seamus Finnigan. Wesley was standing behind him looking at Harry guiltily. It was obvious to Harry that Wesley had been the one to yell in his ear. Both Hermione and Ron had flattened their eyes in facial expressions that had "I told you so" written all over them. The rest of the great hall slowly got back to what they were doing. Evidently whatever had caused the yell wasn't as interesting as they might have guessed.

"Harry, you really need to stop doing that. You know Snape yelled at you three times in class and took a hundred fifty points from Gryffindor just because you were spacing out?" Hermione said. "I was going to go hit you myself! You are going cost us the house cup if you continue to act like that!"

Harry got the urge to hex again but before he could do anything some one grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the great hall. He looked up and was surprised to see Blaise pulling him away. He pulled Harry through the moving staircases, into a secret passageway that Harry had seen on the Marauders map but never had any reason to use as it seemed to go nowhere but one empty room. In there George who was working on a potion and every so often looking at something that looked quite a lot like the marauders map. As soon as Harry heard the door close George turned around and looked at them.

"Ok, if you brought Harry here directly from the great hall then something must be up." George said in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

"Yeah, well you told me when I randomly found you here to bring him here if there was ever trouble." Harry was confused, and rapidly found that confusion was also not a true emotion. He really would have to rethink what he viewed as emotions, as quite a few of the things he has previously thought of as them were actually combinations of them, or combinations of them and thoughts. He realized that one cannot be confused without thought at that moment. But that really didn't matter.

Snapping back to reality again, Harry realized he didn't want to hex anyone. George and Blaise were talking about something.

"…say he has been like that all week?" George finished when Harry was paying attention again.

"Yeah, he was. It was really odd, he was so out of it this morning that he ignored Snape completely. It was actually pretty funny, but it really scared Neville, Wesley and Hermione. I wasn't sure what to do, it didn't seem that bad but then he just snapped and almost hexed Seamus and Wesley after they had yelled in his ear to get him to snap out of whatever he was in. At that point I decided that discretion was no longer the better part of valor and grabbed him and brought him here." Blaise looked really concerned. Harry wasn't exactly surprised at this though, he had after all carried him to the infirmary after the incident with Ron after care of magical creatures and he had been making friends not only outside of Slytherin house but with muggleborns no less. Something that wasn't just rare, it was unheard of.

The next thing Harry knew the passage opened again and Ron, Hermione, Remus and Saren walked in. Remus was holding the marauders map. McGonagall quickly followed, with a very annoyed expression on her face. Saren and Remus looked worried.

"I told you about this." Saren thought to him, "I told you that you can't function without thought or emotion. You have just done the exact opposite wrong thing you were doing before. Not thinking is the worst thing you can do if you want to protect your thoughts. While you are ignoring them someone could just waltz in and legillimens them away. And I am sure you have noticed other problems with not thinking as well. Like the fact that you obviously haven't eaten since Friday. That's five days with no sustenance. If I sound preachy it's because I cannot stress this point enough. I worry about you, you seem to have a stubborn streak a mile wide, be very irrational, and then try to hide from the consequences when you inevitably make a mistake. Don't fall into that trap any longer. I assume that Minerva is going to yell at you. I want you to come to my classroom immediately after you are done here. I see you were not ready for this yet and I blame myself but you will definitely not last until Friday it needs to be dealt with now." With that Saren left the room, his face no giving away at all what he had just thought to the boy.

"What were you thinking?" Professor McGonagall was really mad this time, Harry could tell. "First I hear you totally spaced out both your classes today from two very annoyed professors, one who I might add has graciously let you into his class when you did not have the OWLs to do so. Then when someone finally snaps you out of it, although I admit in a less than satisfactory way, you decide the best course of action would be to immediately curse your own housemates in the great hall in the middle of dinner?"

Harry felt like he was eleven again and this was his first year again. He felt guilty, which he also found was not an emotion in of itself. He knew everything that she had said was correct. Of all the professors at Hogwarts McGonagall was the only one who he had never been able to stand up to in any notable fashion. Maybe it was because he knew that she was fair, maybe a bit on the strict side, but she was fair. Or that he knew she really cared about her students. Or that even though she punished hard that she was aware that people make mistakes. The fact that he had not been expelled any number of times before this was a testament to that. If this had been anyone else, even Dumbledore he would have gotten angry and been able to hide behind that in his bubble of no thought. But McGonagall had been the real mother figure in his life, he realized that now. Ms. Weasley was great but she was not there through the important times, they had all happened here at Hogwarts. And he hardly thought of aunt Petunia as anything mothering, smothering maybe, mean and hurtful yes. But she was hardly even mothering to her beloved son let alone him.

But now he was in a predicament. He was certain now that he could not handle this on his own. He had to get this dealt with sooner rather than later. But he also had the DA members to think of. Even if he told Hermione and Ron to spread around the news that the meeting wouldn't happen, he couldn't tell them the truth. He now had to decide what to do, and he had to do it without giving up any of his secrets. He supposed his best course of action would be to tell Saren about the DA since it seemed likely that he already knew about it. But for some reason, even with everything that they had talked about, even with the fact that he was studying the ways to hide and give up the very secrets he was trying to keep with the man. He still was reluctant to give this one up. It felt like he would be betraying the other members. He didn't think that Saren would tell anyone in fact he was positive he wouldn't but he still couldn't do it. He would have to ask Hermione and Ron what they thought but first he had to respond to his head of house.

He tried to think up a suitable lie he really did, but he was certain that now any lie he made would show up on his face as obvious as anything else so he decided that now would be the time to tell the truth. She was an order member and his head of house. If anyone should know about his lessons besides Dumbledore, Saren, and Himself it was her. And he was not convinced that anyone had informed her. He felt this was rather out of line, as it affected not just her but an entire year in her house. He looked around the room. Remus, George, Ron and Hermione already knew. And he found that he didn't care if Blaise found out either. After all he was in cahoots with the Weasley twins, or at least George to protect him if they were not around. And he was also in the Psionics class. He realized that he wanted to invite him to the lessons now, but he would do that after coming clean to McGonagall, even if she already knew it would make him feel a lot better.__

"The other sixth year Gryffindors and I are taking occlumency lessons with professor Saren on Fridays." McGonagall's face softened but it was still stern. She said nothing so he continued. "Last Friday he taught me how to simply feel my emotions without reacting to them. Unfortunately I didn't heed a warning about avoiding thought while I was doing this and so have been rather out of it since then." Ron and Hermione looked rather nervous. Apparently they had not expected him to come clean with this many people in the room, despite the fact that this was old news for the majority of them.

Blaise was the first to respond, "I take it this is because of your obvious tenuous connection to he who must not be named?" Everyone in the room stared at him. "What? It's obvious that he has one. Pretty much everyone in Slytherin at least figured that out a long time ago. I would assume the Ravenclaws know as well."

Harry thought about this for a second. It was quite obvious actually to anyone who cared. Dumbledore may be a great sorcerer but he is horrible at hiding things. If he had been then Harry, Hermione and Ron would not have been able to do nearly half the things they had done. "Yes." He said simply to the surprise of everyone in the room. "And I think that you should go to them too. After all you are apparently putting yourself on the line for me and you are a good friend."

Blaise looked pleased and Hermione looked intrigued. Ron, on the other hand, looked rather put off. Harry had expected this but didn't want to make a big deal of it. After all if the others didn't trust him then he simply wouldn't stay. He was sure that Blaise could keep a secret. He also noticed that as always his secrets were very quickly becoming commonly known. He wasn't sure how long the occlumency lessons could remain secret.

"Well, that seems like a reasonable explanation but I cannot allow this to continue. You will go talk to professor Saren immediately about this." Her face then softened more until she was smiling. "He really is a special one, Leon always was one of my favorite Slytherins. Just listen to him, I know you have a tendency to try and do things on your own but remember that you are not alone." Her stern demeanor returned immediately. "Now go before I extend your punishment another week!"

Harry did not need to be told twice, he did NOT want to be stuck cleaning that bathroom by himself for another week. He motioned to Blaise to come with him. Hermione and Ron followed, Ron a bit uneasily.

After they were out of earshot of the adults Hermione spoke. "I am going to tell everyone that we are starting without you. Please make it if you can though, and we won't make any final decisions without you but please make sure you deal with this now before it gets too out of hand?" She looked at him with a slightly worried expression before leaving.

"I'm going too, be careful though." He said and then turned to Blaise. "Don't you let him do something stupid now." He said to him and then walked off after Hermione.

Harry was slightly hurt that Ron would tell Blaise of all people to take care of him. It was only a slight bit of pain but it was enough for him to lose himself again and that's exactly what he would have done had Blaise not grabbed him forcefully and yanked him towards Saren's classroom. Every time he started to lose himself again Blaise did something to startle him back to reality. Eventually he felt himself being pushed into a wall.

"You are being a real pain in the arse you know that." He said, holding Harry there facing him. He was obviously very annoyed. "I don't know what you are playing at Harry but you really need to GET A GRIP!" He yelled that right I Harry's ear. Then his annoyed expression turned into a grin that looked not unlike that of one of the Weasley twins. Before Harry could react he felt himself go stiff, Blaise had hit him with the full body bind. He then picked up Harry's wand, stuffed it into Harry's robe and then said "_mobilicorpus_" before sitting on Harry's body like anyone would a bench and riding it to Saren's room.

Harry found it impossible to not contemplate this set of events. He thought the boy was insane. But he was also a genius. As odd as it was it was impossible for him to get lost in feeling as he had been too surprised to not have a jumble of thought go through his head. He also realized something else. Other than it being rather irritating to not be able to move this was not the worst way to travel. Blaise wasn't very heavy at all and he probably would have found himself laughing if he could. It was certainly a new experience for him, one he actually wanted to experience not ignore. He didn't really know why he wanted to, but he did.

When they arrived at the room, Blaise stepped off Harry's floating form and then said "_finite incantatem_" before smiling and saying. "You know I could get used to that!" with an evil glint in his eye. "And I have been getting pretty good in transfiguration. You seem to be the right dimensions to become a very nice bench…" He let his voice trail off.

Harry smiled, although he had to admit that he would not want to experience that again. As interesting a sensation it was it was not something he was exactly pleased about now that it was done. However it had served his purpose. He was here and conscious.

"Come in. You too, I had a feeling that it would be you who would come with him." Laughter then filled the hallway as Saren appeared in the doorway he was laughing so hard he was almost heaving. "I didn't expect that though. Interesting trick, I'll have to remember that one next time I get annoyed with someone."

Saren returned to the center of the room and hovered as he usually did. However where his face was normally serene, now his previous smile had dropped to an expression of sternness. "You know why you are here. I know you have trouble with your thoughts and I am aware that it must be rather relieving to not have to think. But there is no excuse for what you have been doing. You are not only putting yourself in danger you are putting everyone else around you in danger as well."

"I know. If I were to be legillimensed I would be a sitting duck." Harry realized this, and he would have to be careful near anyone who was a legillimencer.

"Well…that to, but more importantly you are lucky that you haven't done anything that requires concentration while you were in such a state. You might not have been able to snap yourself out of it and then you could have hurt, even killed yourself or another person. For instance what if you HAD been making a potion in class? You completely ignored Snape, but would you have not done the potion had you been asked to? And if you had would you have any idea what you actually made? Likely not, a single trip and we could have had a dead or worse student simply because you had no idea what you were doing." Harry wanted to get mad at his professor, he really did, but what he said made too much sense. He didn't even remember that Snape had yelled at him and taken one hundred fifty points away from Gryffindor, he still wanted to say that he would never do that. But it had been Hermione who had said so, someone else he could shift blame to but not her. She wouldn't lie about something like that, she was deadly serious.

"Here we are. You are going to stop doing this one way or the other. If I have to I will use means that you will not like to get you to stop doing this. I have the headmaster's permission to use memory charms if I have to, to ensure your safety! I do not want to have to resort to that as I believe that the mind should never be tampered with by another. But I will because in this case you very easily could not longer be another if you keep this up. If nothing else you won't pass any of your classes, ESPECIALLY mine!"

Harry just took the rant, Saren was right. He felt himself slipping into guilt again. He knew his professor was right, he knew it. He was going to have to deal with this. He felt more of a heavy weight on his shoulders. He realized that he did not have the strength to hold the weight of the world on his shoulders alone as everyone seemed to expect. He had been talking about knowing he needed help, friends forever but it was now more than ever that it really hit him. Before, after the deaths of Cedric and then Sirius he had been in shock and so these realizations had never come. They had been thought of and told to him time and time again but he never had internalized them. Even earlier in the year when he had thought the same things he hadn't really understood what they mean. Now he wasn't in shock nor was he blocking his feelings, and the feelings of depression, loneliness and inadequacy returned. Worse still it wasn't something he could simply feel, they had too much thought attached to them for that.

He felt an arm go around him, he thought at first that it was Saren but when he looked it was Blaise. "Don't worry. You have friends and we'll stick by you." He said.

Saren smiled, "I see you understand. I feel that you are troubled as I expected you would be. I really wish you would think of me as your friend and not simply your instructor. I don't care any longer I can see you need formalities like you need pinpricks. Just call me Leon ok? The rules be damned! After all it's not like any of us in here really ever followed them anyway." Saren's face somehow had a mischievous gleam even without visible eyes. Harry realized as he watched his professor that more so then just the eyes showed what people were thinking. He realized that he was leaning how to read people much better simply by learning how his professor communicated without vision.

Harry still felt a little better but that small joke had only lightened his mood to bearable. He knew what he had to do. He had to go to the DA, he had to be with his friends he had to make sure absolutely who would stand by him and who wouldn't. He knew exactly how. Blaise had proven to be a quick ally and friend and one of the only people to really seem to take him as he was without any other expectations. The only other people to do that were Remus, Hermione, Neville, and Wesley. He knew what he would do. He would show up with Blaise and see who really was willing to follow him and who would rather stick to their old pointless squabbles. He really realized at last that he was preparing for a war. As bolstered as he was as filled with adrenaline as he made it out to be, he still felt lost and alone. The only people that he knew for a fact were on his side at the moment were Blaise and Leon. He even had his doubts about Ron and Hermione. He somehow knew they were baseless but he wasn't acting on logic now he was acting on impulse and impulse told him that he needed to test all of his friends.

He turned towards Blaise and then grabbed his arm and pulled him away from Leon who was now hovering and balancing his wand on his nose as Harry had seen him do previously.

"Wait, what's up? I can walk you know." Blaise said in mock anger.

"Oh sorry, I am late for a meeting and I want you to be there." Harry said, still pulling Blaise along as if he had said nothing at all.

Blaise pulled Harry to a stop, and Harry found he was quite strong. "What meeting is this?" He asked.

"It's a meeting of a defense against the dark arts association me and some other students made in response to the total lack of learning in that respect last year."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to bring me there? Don't you think you might have some pissed off members?"

"That is exactly why you have to be there. I need to know who is behind me regardless of who I bring. I need people who will trust me and who I can trust without a doubt. I don't have time to weed everyone out." Blaise still looked a bit uncomfortable but followed him as he started walking again none the less.

He stopped when they got to where they were going. "This is the third floor corridor, the one that was sealed off our first year." He said with just a little bit of fear. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"Yeah, it should be, after all I bet everyone else is already there. And besides, it can't be anymore dangerous then it was when I went there before." This did not seem to make Blaise any less nervous however he still followed Harry as Harry had expected him too. He was testing him too he realized. He wouldn't feel right until this was over. Lat year the DA had been his saving grace the one thing he had done that he had no regrets about, this time it would be his. _Screw Dumbledore's Army, this was going to be the Defense Association!_ He smiled to himself as he opened the door to where Fluffy had been those many years ago.

The room looked pretty much the same except smaller and without the giant three headed dog. The trap door was open and there was the top of a ladder sticking up out of it. But that didn't really change the room's look any. He could hear voices from below. He recognized some of them and so was sure that it was the DA.

He looked at Blaise who had a worried expression on his face. It seemed out of place on him now. Apparently he was not immune to fear as it had seemed. Maybe he just realized what to really be afraid of. Harry raised an eyebrow at him as if to ask 'ready?' Blaise nodded.

The room down the ladder looked very different without the Devil's snare. It was quite empty in fact and quite a lot bigger then he remembered. It was at least two meters wide and three meters long with the ladder coming down roughly in the middle of the room. He heard the noises from beyond the next room. _The chess board…it would be big enough,_ he thought and so he started walking through the room with the flying keys. Although there were no flying keys and so now the room looked huge. It was incredibly tall and he could barely see the ceiling in the small amount of light that was generated by the torches on the wall. He saw light coming from around the door to the room with the chessboard which was now closed, the skeleton key to unlock it was nowhere to be seen so Harry assumed that it was unlocked. He clearly heard voices talking beyond the door.

He looked at Blaise one more time in an unspoken check for readiness. Blaise hesitated, but nodded in the end. And so Harry waked forward and opened the door with Blaise walking beside and slightly behind him, but easily visible.

The talking immediately stopped and the reaction was immediate. The happy faces at seeing Harry soon became nervous at best upon seeing Blaise. Some of them even became scowls. Harry felt Blaise start to edge away but he shot him pleading glance before heading up to where Hermione and Ron were standing, they were obviously leading the previous discussion.

When Harry got there he looked back and saw that while Blaise had not left as he was sure he was about to, he hadn't moved into the room either. Harry motioned him not just in but up to the front of the room. Hermione's look was intrigued, and Harry was Happy to see that Ron's look was not an unhappy one. A bit odd, but at least he didn't scowl at the situation. He heard grumbles as Blaise hurried up to the front of the room. Harry understood what they were thinking as he would have thought the same thing. It was ok to be on good terms or even friends with a Slytherin like Blaise who wasn't a git to everyone. However, it was another thing to let them invade your territory. The DA had previously been Slytherin free. Not only that but not many of the students here had even heard Harry's plan to include them. This was his test, not only of them but of himself.

He found himself wanting to send Blaise away wanting to avoid the inevitable confrontation that this would cause. He did not know how would be on his side in this, he couldn't know.

A voice Harry could have predicted spoke up first. "Not only do you invite the yank but you invite a Slytherin too?" Zacharias Smith spoke up from somewhere in the group. And he wasn't disputed openly either. In fact there were a notable grunts and nods of agreement. Blaise began to sweat but stood his ground behind Harry in front of the group. Harry noticed Wesley was sitting with Neville and Seamus who seemed to be shielding him from the other students. It was clear that they had already had at least part of this conversation from how people were acting. Now it was his time to make his needs clear.

Harry looked t Ron and Hermione for help but neither one of them seemed to want to get into this. While they didn't seem to have a problem with this, they both looked like they wanted to hear his response. Unfortunately now that he was here he couldn't think of anything to say. He was totally paralyzed with his feelings of inadequacy and guilt and couldn't speak even if he had the right words to say.

In the end Blaise had started to leave and it was Justin Finch-Fletchley who surprised everyone by saying. "And where do you think you're going Zabini?" in a rather serious voice. Justin stood up where he was sitting next to Hannah Abbot and walked up to the front of the room where he stood next to Harry, staring at Blaise and daring him to stay.

The next thing Harry knew the group was splitting into two halves. There was the half that was standing with him, Justin, Hermione, Ron and now Blaise and the one that stood with Zacharias. Harry was glad to note that Ron and Hermione may not have spoken but they both stood by him.

In the end it turned out that ironically it was mostly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs that were for Blaise being in the group. There were a few exceptions however, and they surprised him. Dean Thomas was standing with Zacharias as was Colin Creevy. Zacharias was the only Hufflepuff against it. The Ravenclaws were split the other way, with Padma being alongside her sister with Harry and everyone else on the side with Zacharias.

Of all the students in the room four took no side at all. Neville, Seamus, Wesley, and Dennis sat in their seats refusing to budge.

There was a stare down before Zacharias spoke up, "Justin, Ernie how can you sit there and be alongside them after all that has happened!" he said.

Justin immediately responded, "What do you know?" He said forcefully, "Were you petrified by a basilisk? No. Have you ever bothered to as what that felt like? No. Have you bothered me about what I was thinking about when I realized that it was not Harry who was doing all of this but someone else and that he had in fact saved me from that Snake? No! So don't talk to me about 'what has happened!' That one year happened and you were nowhere to be seen!"

Ernie then spoke up. "I was wary too, but in the end Blaise proved himself. Take it form me, he is safe." He said.

Padma spoke up, "I would tend to agree that he is safe. But beyond that there is no point in worrying about that now as we need to break down the barriers between the houses. Look at what this simply different in grouping has caused? I see now what the hat meant with its song. You all are judging him without even getting to know him."

Zacharias looked flustered and then looked down at the four who hadn't moved. "So where do you stand on this or are the Gryffindors to scared to stand up for this."

Dennis looked him straight in the eye and said, "Why? This has to be one of the most pointless arguments we could be having. We should just as well kick Harry out for being a Parcel Mouth or Seamus out for being Queer. Or maybe we could kick you out simply because we don't like the way your eyes look on your face?" With that he sat down and stared down the group with an intensity that Harry had rarely seen before. Seamus, Wesley and Neville simply nodded sternly.

At that point the people who were standing by Zacharias started to move back top their seats. It appeared that they had been swayed. Zacharias stood alone for a few seconds before he relented and grudgingly sat down again.

Harry turned to Hermione and Ron, "I assume that you can take this from here? I'm tired." He wasn't sure why but now he was exhausted and he felt like he had accomplished what he had set out to do. He had tested his friends and the majority of them had stood by him. He knew that Dennis was ultimately right that night. Harry felt that he was looking for something however. He had found at least one thing Blaise was one of his choices for whatever he was deciding. He looked at the rest of the group. He knew he had to choose the rest of them fro somewhere and this was a good place to start.

Blaise left alongside him and they both headed out of the room together. Harry noticed that quite a few of the people there had started hading random things to Hermione, but he wouldn't tell what they were. Something told him it was important but not his place to ask so he simply talked away.

He fell into simply feeling again as he let the exhaustion overtake him. The past thing he clearly remembered was separating form Blaise at the entrance to the third floor corridor, and then quickly falling asleep.

Afterthoughts

Sorry Ken, I was wrong no Wesley in chapter 14, I miscounted but he will be revealed in chapter 15. As for this chapter again I may rewrite the DA scene as I was tired and rather trying to just get through it at this point. Oh and if you don't think that there has been much plot then you might want to reread a few of the older chapters because there has been QUITE a bit of plot as of now, it has just been very subtle.

I recommend chapters 1 (Dumbledore's Weapon), 2 (Unexpected Unpleasantness), 6 (Wesley Tinderspoon), 10 (Three Truths Revelaed), 12 (Pensieves and Pressing Problems), and 13 (The High Inquisitors Proud Progeny). These all have major hints to the rest of the plot I them somewhere, and in some form or another. The rest have some minor ones but there is a lot of plot so far the characters are just not really aware of it. But the reader has been clued in a bit more then one might think. I won't tell you anymore and if you don't want to look that's fine it will all be explained in time. But for those of you who want to guess what the plot is, go looking and see what you can find. Have fun and of course, REVIEW!


	15. Wesley Tinderspoon’s Secret

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 15: Wesley Tinderspoon's Secret

The rest of September went by quickly after that. There were a couple DA meetings in which they practiced curses form the previous year, but other than that not much was going on. Their classes weren't very new either most of them settling on a routine which seemed to be mostly review with a few new spells that Harry found to be mostly dull. Even the occlumency lessons went fine, even the addition of Blaise didn't cause ripples in the group. And since Leon had decided to start taking it slower do to Harry's mishap, they had spent the next few times simply going over meditation techniques.

Harry had fallen into his trance like state a few times over those weeks however he had always had a friend to snap him out of them and for that he was now pretty grateful as he was certain that he would not be passing his classes if they hadn't. It was the second week of October and today was the day they were finishing the polyjuice potion. Normally on the days the rest of the class were working on the potions he and Wesley would be chatting quietly by Neville and Blaise' cauldron, but today Wesley was busy looking around terrified as the potions got ever closer to completion.

Now Neville and Blaise had ended up being a much better team then Harry had thought. While Blaise had not managed to totally remove Neville's fear he had managed to get Neville to help with the potion without messing it up. Harry was certain that some of it had to do with their little talk as Neville seemed to be getting less and less nervous with Snape since then. But he had to hand it to Blaise, he had Neville calmer than Harry had ever seen him in this class.

Of course the class today was going to be exceptionally boring for Harry because he already knew about the potions effects. He and Wesley had studied with Hermione to get their papers right. Harry had made a few mistakes but Hermione had caught them. Wesley on the other hand seemed to be wholly familiar with the potion. Of course his hands shook violently whenever they were writing about it so in the end Hermione had helped him write his essay. Harry still noticed a slight blush whenever she looked at him but it no longer was as pronounced. They had not let him read the essay, and this morning they had turned them in first thing when they had gotten to class. Harry had purposely come early so he could have it done with and avoid possible hassles about interrupting class. Wesley had simply followed obviously trusting Harry's judgment in this matter.

The first hour of the class was spent actually making sure the potion was finished correctly with professor Snape painstakingly looking over each students shoulder to make sure there was no error. Apparently this potion was very dangerous if one made a mistake, although considering the effect it had that wasn't exactly a surprising realization.

"Ok, now that it seems that all of you have done a satisfactory job." He sneered in Neville and Blaise' direction as he said this obviously annoyed that he couldn't chide Neville in front of the class as he most certainly had planned. "Now go to the back and get the specially cleaned vials I have prepared for this potion and then we will be testing it. Each of you will use the potion to become your partner, it lasts for the next hour so assuming you make haste there should be no lasting effects…" He then quickly added, "And make sure that when you put the piece of your partner I the potion that you do it in that corner over there so that if you make any mistakes you will be the only one bearing the consequences." Pointing at the far corner of the room where some cups were lined up.

The class then went to a bustle as people started going back to get the clean vials to put the potion in. Neville was walking back towards their Cauldron with a cup filled with the potion and Blaise' hair, looking quite proud of himself when Malfoy quickly stuck his foot out and tripped him. What happened next was almost too fast to see. Neville fell and the potion flew out of his hands in his and Wesley's direction. Wesley seemed to freeze up as they watched the Potion fly at them in slow motion. But Blaise pulled him below one of the cauldrons and the potion hit the wall with an inert splat where he had just been standing.

Harry had never seen Snape so mad. He didn't even direct his anger at anyone he was simply angry, even when Harry had put fireworks in his cauldron their second year paled in comparison to this. He was yelling at the entire class without regards to house at all about responsibility and being careful with potions for almost a half an hour. He kept mentioning how they were going to be making some incredibly dangerous potions in this class and how someone could have gotten seriously hurt if this was one of them.

Malfoy of course was not targeted in any way, even though it was quite obvious that he had done it. But neither was Neville and that more than anything pointed out the gravity of the situation. Harry wasn't sure why Snape was reacting so badly about this potion. But at least it wasn't a deadly potion that had been in that cauldron when it had happened, even though you wouldn't have known that from Snape's raving.

They never did get to test whether the potions they made had worked. So Snape had handed each person a vial of the potion and said that it was their homework to test the potion on a person and then write a three foot essay on the effects. Apparently Snape was so flustered wit what had happened, something Harry was not used to Snape being, that he totally forgot to assign anything to him and Wesley during this whole thing and at the end of class he very quickly rushed out of the room telling everyone that it had better remain spotless when he got back.

Blaise and Neville cleaned up their cauldron together, but that's not what caught Harry's attention. What caught Harry's attention was Malfoy talking to Wesley. Harry could barely hear what they were saying so he decided to put something they had learned recently in psionics about focusing senses through other senses to the test. So he stared at their conversation and concentrated on the words they were speaking. Sure enough he could hear the end of the conversation quite clearly.

Malfoy was speaking, "…meet me there tonight after everyone in your dorm is asleep."

"Ok…" Wesley looked scared and troubled whereas Malfoy looked smug. He looked like he had everything he needed. Harry wasn't sure what to make of this. There was a sort of guilty feel to Wesley's demeanor, but he couldn't quite pick it out. The fact that he still trusted the boy made him even less able to really see what was going on. _Hmm…it has to be tonight then, I will ask Hermione tonight._

Harry noticed that Wesley was much less talkative during lunch then he normally was. He also noticed that Hermione was looking at him even more strangely then she had in that previous defense class, which may have explained his lack of exuberance considering that she was the person he was usually talking too.

Defense against the dark arts had gotten into a pattern now. First they banished their desks to the wall. Which it seemed the majority of the class was getting a lot better at. Then they spent the first half of the class learning curse dodging techniques from various people. This portion of the class was mostly student run. Wesley had taught during some of them, but he was far from the only one who knew about curse evasion. Dean and Justin taught skills they learned from playing dodge ball on muggle playgrounds as kids. Harry had never really played dodge ball as generally games of dodge ball became games of "peg Harry" so these were skills useful even to him. Hermione had taught them a few transfigurations and charms that were very useful for blocking any number of curses including a very interesting decoy charm she said she learned from professor McGonagall over the summer. It when cast correctly drew some of the more common spells to it. Of course casting it correctly requires split second timing and so no one actually succeeded in actually using it usefully. But it was something Harry thought would be very useful if he actually mastered it.

The second half was always spent sparring unless there was a specific lesson that Tonks wanted to teach. So far her lessons had been mostly catch up and things that Harry already knew or were purely common sense. Today was no exception as they were working on stunning spells, and so he spent all of his time waiting around because he wanted to catch Hermione after class to mention talking with her in private after dinner.

So when class ended he quickly walked to the door and followed along side her as she left. "Hermione, I need to talk to you in private after dinner, it's important."

Hermione thought for a second before responding, "Ok meet me in Myrtle's bathroom." Harry then let her rush off to her next class. He was meeting Ron and Ginny about the Quidditch team and didn't want to be late.

Dinner that evening was pretty much the same as lunch although Hermione was glancing at Harry as well as looking at Wesley. Wesley obviously noticed but didn't say anything and when dinner ended he rushed out of the room towards the Gryffindor dorms. Harry felt a little guilty as it was obvious that he was having a bit of trouble fitting in, though at least he wasn't being the target of ridicule. In fact it seemed like the majority of the students seemed to completely ignore him. Hermione left a few minutes later and headed off towards the library. She glanced at him on her way out though, signaling him that she was going to their meeting place.

Harry left towards the Gryffindor dorms before going upstairs and doubling back towards their meeting place. He wasn't exactly expecting to be followed as generally the only people who were out at this time were the order members and some of the prefects. The majority of the students seemed to spend the evening in their common rooms. And currently the hallway to Myrtle's bathroom was quite empty.

Immediately after entering the bathroom he felt a cold chill as Myrtle flew through him, then quickly apologized upon seeing who it was. Harry was polite to her and then told her that he needed to have a private conversation with Hermione. This almost went horribly wrong as Myrtle got an incredibly jealous look on her face, but Hermione saved the day by telling her that she had no intention of getting together with Harry and that she and Harry would make a cute couple. After that she happily flew into her toilet and left the two of them alone. Harry wasn't sure what he thought of this, but it had gotten her to leave at least.

"Ok so what did you want to talk to me about?" She asked in a serious tone.

"I wanted to talk to you about Wesley." Hermione waited for more. "It's obvious that you have figured him out, and after what I saw in potions today I really think that we ought to know who he really is. I trust him but I still would like to know what he is hiding."

"You se that's just it I don't know that we can trust him." Harry didn't follow, he had always trusted Wesley why would now be any different? Sure he had secrets but that didn't automatically make someone untrustworthy. He waited for Hermione's explanation. "You see at first I thought he was a metamorphmagus. You know from how he seemed to bend in that defense class?" Harry nodded. "But then I remembered how he had reacted to the Polyjuice potion and went to the library to check out a hunch." Harry nodded again prompting her to continue. "And when I looked it up I found something rather interesting and very scary. I think Wesley might be a Doppelganger."

"A what?" Harry had no idea what she was talking about.

"A form of shape shifter not unlike a metamorphmagus but much scarier." She looked truly distressed as she spoke. "Doppelgangers can take any form they want and can even change their volume to a degree. Any inanimate objects they become act as if it were what it were making them almost impossible to detect and they can even simulate simpler magical objects, even wands."

"What makes you think Wesley is a Doppelganger though?"

"It says that Doppelgangers can be killed in any way that a normal human can be killed as long as they remain in a form in which that way can work. However polyjuice potion liquefies the morphologic substance that makes up Doppelganger physiology." Harry looked at her oddly. "It melts them on contact regardless of heir current form."

"Well that would certainly make anyone scared. I still don't see why we shouldn't trust him though. After all he has been in my dorm for a month and he hasn't done anything. And besides he just seems so trustworthy." Harry was baffled, why would Hermione distrust him after knowing him or so long?

"You see Doppelgangers also have another effect on those around them… They are telempathic, meaning they affect other people's emotions. They make the people near them feel trust in them. If in fact he is a Doppelganger then that is why we have always trusted him, because it is in his nature to make people trust him, one could watch a Doppelganger kill their family and still feel guilty for even simply turning them in because of the false sense of trust."

Harry sat there unsure of what to say. After all everything that had happened made sense if that were the case. How quickly everyone had begun to trust him. How he had seemed so nice and innocent, too innocent really. How he had taken those second long showers without a wand and why he was so secretive. The problem was that Harry was at a loss. Because he still did trust the boy. But he now didn't know if he really trusted him or if he was being forced to trust him. Then he remembered something else. "Well then how can you explain Ron? He never really trusted him."

"I don't know, it does say that some people are resistant to the effects but other than that I can't say. This is all speculation, however from everything that happened it seems the most likely conclusion." Hermione still looked worried as she said this.

Harry then thought of the conversation between Wesley and Malfoy. "I did see something interesting between Wesley and Malfoy in potions earlier. They were talking at the end of Potions and so I decided to see what was gong on. I heard the tail end of the conversation and Malfoy told Wesley to meet him somewhere after everyone in the dorms was asleep."

"Hmm…I can't believe I am saying this but I think we should follow them." Hermione said.

"I was thinking the same thing. We could wait until Wesley leaves the dorm and then use the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak to follow him."

"That seems like a good idea but remember that his name may not even be Wesley according to the Marauders Map." Hermione then slapped her forehead in realization. "I am stupid I should have checked the Marauder's Map as soon as I suspected something."

"Well we can follow him anyway, and if his name is not Wesley then we just look for the name meeting with Malfoy. They are likely meeting alone after all why would he be so secretive about it if they weren't?" Harry was starting to plan out what he was going to do in order to pull this one off as he really wanted to know what the deal with Wesley was now more than anything and finding out why he was meeting with Malfoy seemed like a good place to start.

"That makes sense. Well in any case I'll wait in the common room somewhere inconspicuous doing homework by the fire or something. I'll try to be out of sight as well."

Now that they had a plan with regards to their newest acquaintance they decided to put it into action and head back to their respective dorms to get ready. Hermione stepped out of the bathroom first and when she announced that the coast was clear they both walked to their common room together chatting about whatever came to mind.

Harry was in his bed, he had waited until everyone was doing something and then quickly grabbed his invisibility Cloak and shoved it into his bed sheets. Then he grabbed a stack of paper and put it into his trunk and then removed it including the marauders map, which was there again despite Remus somehow taking it out of his room earlier. He would have to ask him about that later.

He then figured he might as well actually do some homework now, as that was going to be his guise for getting out the map without anyone else noticing so he did being very careful to separate the map form the other sheets of paper as to not ruin it. And after doing an essay for Transfiguration that he had been putting off before he shoved the paper into his trunk again and then shoved the marauder's map beneath his pillow. He looked around, it didn't seem like anyone had noticed. Seamus was asleep already and Dean wasn't there. Neville was pruning his _mimbulus mimbletonia_ on his own facing the window and Wesley was very engrossed reading a book. Harry paid very close attention to Wesley to see if he gave any sign of noticing. He knew his other friends would likely think nothing of what he was doing except possibly to ask him about it later. And if they asked now he'd just lie and say he was going to go outside for a walk because it was getting stuffy and he wanted to be alone. And if they argued he would start getting moody and then they would back off. Except possibly Ron in which case he would probably just tell him something almost the truth. Although he didn't want Ron hurting Wesley before they really knew anything about him, regardless of why he still couldn't distrust the boy until he had reason other than that he may not actually trust him. That would likely be because if the telempathic effect or whatever Hermione had called it if he was a Doppelganger, but it was still how he felt regardless.

But it turned out that Ron was too busy polishing his chess set to notice anything was going on and no one else asked so he simply got into bed and pretended to sleep. Harry wasn't sure how long it was until everyone fell asleep but he made sure to be facing Wesley's bed when they did so that he could see when he left.

Wesley went and checked the beds one by one before he left to make sure they were actually asleep. Harry shut his eyes and laid there as asleep like as he could. He wasn't sure if he snored but he figured if his face was down in the pillow then it wouldn't matter so he quickly turned down while Wesley was checking Seamus bed and was thus not looking at him.

Wesley poked him and he stirred a bit and swatted him away before rolling over again. Harry figured this would make him seem more sleep. He wasn't wrong and after a few more minutes of Wesley presumably looking at him to make sure he was asleep, he heard him go off towards Ron's bed before he heard the door shut and slight noises on the stairs.

Harry waited a few more seconds before he checked to see if he had left and sure enough Wesley was no longer in the room. Harry quickly activated the Marauders map and looked at it. _Well, his name is Wesley Tinderspoon at least._ He thought as he watched the name go out of the dorms and into the common room. It didn't even stop as it passed Hermione who was sitting by the fire. _So far so good_, he thought as Wesley left the common room, after which he bounded down the stairs to Hermione.

"I saw him pass, he didn't think anything of me sitting here, or if he did he didn't do anything about it," was all Hermione said before looking at the Map and then trying to fit underneath the invisibility cloak. It was very irritating fitting under it while still being able to look at the map but they managed with an interesting enlargement charm from Hermione and scrunching together in an odd fashion with Hermione behind Harry looking over his shoulder.

Wesley was moving though the corridors at a fairly slow pace, Malfoy was still in his dorm at this point. But Blaise was still moving around in there too and so Harry figured that was why he was still there.

Wesley walked up to a wall that had an empty room behind it but Harry never paid any attention to it before because it didn't appear to have anything in it, he had never seen anyone in it when he was using the map and it didn't seem to go anywhere.

"That's odd, why would Malfoy want to meet him there? He is breaking one of the rules set for Prefects." Hermione said almost to herself.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked her

"Well seeing as we're going there anyway I guess I might as well tell you but you can't tell anyone even Ron. Really it could get my Prefect badge removed for not turning back right now." She then thought for a second before a mischievous snicker escaped her mouth. "Although that is almost worth making that git lose his...almost, but not totally worth it." Harry snickered along with her and they watched Wesley wait in the room. Malfoy had left the Slytherin Common room and was heading towards Wesley's position.

"That room is a prefect Meeting place to be used in an Emergency situation so the Prefects can meet in private. Only the four heads of house and the headmaster know about it besides the prefects….well, and now Wesley and you." Harry nodded and they continued on their way.

They got there before Malfoy and found the entrance to the place was wide open. The room was totally nondescript and in fact had absolutely nothing in it. It was merely a roughly cube shaped room made out of the normal stone of the castle that was big enough to reasonably gold maybe six or seven standing individuals.

Wesley was pacing obviously agitated. Hermione used a quick one way silencing charm on them and they snuck into the room and hugged the side wall behind the cloak where they could see and hear everything that could be said. If he noticed Wesley gave no sign of it.

Malfoy entered the room a few minutes later. He then shut the door, making it certain that no one but those in the room could hear what was being said.

"What do you want?" Wesley asked in a slightly accusatory but still timid fashion.

Malfoy's smile turned into a grin, an evil grin that Harry was not surprised by in the least. He walked up to Wesley and produced a vial. Harry immediately recognized it as the Polyjuice potion he had been handed at the end of class. Wesley very visibly shrank back from the vial and started shaking almost violently. "I guess the question is what can I get out of you now isn't it?" Malfoy said in a very demeaning tone. He then approached Wesley with the vial. Wesley backed away until Malfoy had him trapped in a corner. Harry had half a mind to show himself and stop this now but he decided that it would be better to see what happened. After all they could stop this at any time if it got too out of hand. Plus the fact they he was not supposed to be here was not lost on him. Nor the fact that since there were three Gryffindors here and only one Slytherin, this could very easily be yet another thing turned against Gryffindor house.

"I don't know what you would want." Wesley's response was quick and jolting, he was obviously terrified.

"Well first I want o be totally sure that I am correct about this although it is really obvious now." He darted the vial towards him teasingly never losing his evil grin. "Show me what you really look like." he said. Wesley lowered his head in defeat before he started to change.

What surprised Harry the most was not how much he changed but actually how little. At first it looked like he was going thought a massive change as his Skin began to change from the normal skin color to a dark grayish color. It also looked like it got noticeably smoother then it was, it looked more like rubber now. But other than that he really didn't change much at all. His ears elongated slightly into a more pointed shape but even that wasn't that different. His hair remained the same as did his all the rest of his features. Anyone who took a second to look at him beyond the obvious changes would see that this was the same boy.

Malfoy laughed. "Come on is that the best you can do? Doppelgangers don't have hair and they are noticeably skinnier then people. Come on what is the point of this charade?"

Wesley looked up at him again, "This isn't a charade. This is me, the true form that you wanted to see."

Malfoy looked at him, examined him like a scientist might examine a specimen. He waved his hand through Wesley hair, touched Wesley's hands and looked his face over before saying. "You're a half Wizard aren't you?" Wesley nodded. "Wow, to think that a wizard would ever have the audacity to mate with e Doppelganger! That's rich, your worse then a mudblood."

Wesley cringed with each word and Malfoy seemed to get more and more filled with glee with each flinch. "So I take it I'm right then. One of your filthy parents was a wizard or witch and the other was a Doppelganger weren't they?" Wesley nodded silently, I looked like he wanted to say something but he glanced at the vial in Malfoy's hands and decided against it.

"I should just dump this on you right now and get it over with. But I have a better idea." Wesley's eye's opened wider as Malfoy removed the cap to the vial. He stuck his finger into it and the put the cap back on and put the vial back into his robes. He then took Wesley's hand with into his and turned it palm up before saying. "Potter has that silly goody goody Blaise now and I need someone who I can trust to do what is in his best interest who can tell me what is going on." He then took his finger which had the polyjuice potion on it and rubbed it onto Wesley's palm. The reaction was immediate. Wesley grabbed his wrist with his other hand in what looked like an attempt to steady himself and then turned it to the side. A gooey substance that looked like melted rubber rolled off of it onto the ground. There wasn't much of it but it was obvious that Wesley was in immense pain. He was starting to tear and it was obvious from his expression that he wanted to cry.

"Hmm…I have always wanted to see that…" Malfoy said then he wiped his finger off on Wesley's Robe before producing the vial again and saying. "Think about it." He said. He then walked out of the small empty room through the door, leaving Wesley in the corner where he continued to fight back tears. The next thing Wesley did was put his hand over the puddle of goop that used to be part of it. He started intently concentrating and his expression changed for the worse. If he looked like he was in pain before it was nothing compared to his expression now. He was sweating obviously and his face was locked in a grimace. When he lifted his hand off the ground the puddle was no longer there and he looked slightly less agitated but still in pain. He then shifted back into the human boy whom Harry had become accustomed.

"Ok you can come out now." Wesley said looking around the room. Harry wasn't sure what to do. Had Wesley seen them? Did doppelgangers have some odd power that he didn't know about? In the end it didn't really matter. They were caught and he knew it. Besides after that display it was hard for him to not pity the boy. It was obvious that this was not of his choosing and whether he was trustworthy or not at the very least he wasn't in league with Malfoy.

Harry looked at Hermione motioned removing the cloak and she shrugged, obviously leaving the decision up to him. Her expression was a guilty one, they were caught and they knew it. So he removed the cloak and Hermione quickly waved her wand and removed the silencing charm.

Wesley hopped a little upon their appearance but didn't seem that surprised when he saw who it was. "Oh Harry, Hermione…I figured it Might have been you." He said in a very defeated tone. "So I guess you saw it all didn't you…" Harry wasn't sure what to say. It was rather obvious that they had seen it all as the entrance had been shut the entire time and they couldn't walk through walls. Apparition was not only illegal at their age but it was warded against here anyway. Hermione looked just as lost as for what to say, so he simply nodded.

Wesley then suddenly did a complete turn around and started to get angry. "I can't believe this!" He said, "First I get pulled out of my school and taken to a dump where I was kept for the entire summer! Then I get put into a school that I was not prepared for in any way and put into high level classes too! And now I have to deal with students with polyjuice potions who would like nothing else then to see me melt." He then looked at Harry. "So now you know what are you going to do about it?" He was defiant, apparently Harry didn't seem as threatening to him without a vial of potion. Or maybe he simply lost it? Harry wasn't sure but he could tell that Wesley was in something way out of his control. Harry understood that feeling well.

After his outburst Wesley seemed to calm down a bit and a look of realization came over him. He now looked scared again and turned as if to make a break for the door. Harry moved to the side slightly so that he was between Wesley and the door and then slowly walked towards him. Wesley looked frightened again and he backed up, although not as fast nor as urgently as he had from Malfoy. Harry reached out towards him and he flinched and when Harry took his hurt hand he tried to pull it away. Harry held fast though and simply turned it over to look at his palm. What he saw looked rather painful but not nearly as gruesome as he had thought it would. The skin was grey like his other form's was and it looked scratched and scarred. However it still seemed to be a part of his hand and not that puddle of goo it was before.

"That looks painful." He said to him.

Wesley looked at him surprised, "It is…well it was." He said slowly, "Now it's just stinging slightly…" He thought for a second before saying, "Well…now that you know what are you going to do…" He seemed less scared now, but still wary.

Hermione spoke up, "I guess that depends on you." She said, "I don't know if I can trust you or not knowing what you are. But I can say that at least you seem rather trustworthy beyond my feelings and so I suppose as long as you remain that way I see no reason to make a big deal of this."

Wesley thought for a moment looking at them before saying. "I suppose that's better then I was expecting your response to be. I only wish that I didn't have to put on this stupid charade. It's not like I even pretend to be someone different. I just slightly change my features so I look human. After all, part of me is. I just wish I didn't have to hide the other part of me." He said.

Harry looked at him, looked at Hermione who had an interesting expression on her face that he couldn't place. He then looked back and said, "Why are you hiding it anyway?"

"Because your headmaster wanted me too, and he made it very clear that I was not to let anyone find out about me. Great job I did of that. I think I was sabotaging that from the beginning though. I never wanted to be this nor have I ever wanted to hide what I am. You know that at home everyone in magical world that I know knows what I am and I just be normal around them? Some of them don't trust me but at least I'm not hiding it from them." He then looked down again.

"I know, I don't think you should just go tell everyone but you could go tell your dorm mates?" Hermione said with a soft expression on her face. "I still don't know if I can trust you but at least I like you and that is a start. Maybe if you start coming clean with at least those people you are getting close to then you may find that you are trusted a lot more by those of us who know."

"Maybe you're right." He said, "But what am I going to do about Malfoy? I mean he wants me to basically spy on your for him and who knows what else. And I don't think he would have any qualms with using that potion of his on me if I don't comply." Wesley looked at his palm again and shuddered.

"Don't worry about him he is probably just saying stuff. He knows that you are here for a reason because it is obvious that you are so killing you would be a really stupid move on his part. Still as Hermione said it might be a good idea to come clean to the rest of our group after all more allies is better then less allies. That is a lesson I have had to learn the hard way and didn't actually get until earlier this term."

"Well, thanks for not like trying to kill me or anything." Wesley said.

"Don't worry about it." Hermione said now obviously anything but put off by the boy. Harry only had one more question.

"How did you know we were there? Do Doppelgangers have some sort of sixth sense that we should know about or something?" Harry asked accusatively.

Wesley looked shocked then started laughing. "No silly. What? Do you think I was born yesterday? I put silent alarm charms on the doors to the dorms, the common room, and the entrance to this room. I knew as soon as you passed them that someone did. I could only assume that someone had followed me and was in here invisible but I didn't know who. I knew you had an invisibility cloak and were known for stuff like this so I guessed it was you but I couldn't be certain." Then he laughed again. "A sixth sense? Honestly you'd think we were like super man or something!"

With that the three of them snuck back to their dorms stopping for a short goodbye to Hermione in the common room. Harry had wanted to ask Wesley more stuff, but he figured that could wait until later. He was glad that he hadn't turned out to be some monster but he wasn't sure what to think of the boy. He realized that he had to watch what he felt around him because he couldn't trust it. And there was the fact that Dumbledore had obviously brought him there for a reason. But Wesley had not done anything deplorable nor had he threatened them or anything when they found out about him. And even if he couldn't trust his feeling about the boy he could at least up until now trust the boy's actions. With the slight exception of hiding what he was which Dumbledore saying he had to, was a reasonable excuse.

No what scared him much more than that is why Dumbledore would bring him here in the first place? What that meant for the Order and the war against Voldemort. He found himself falling asleep again and looking across the room at the Wesley who had just fallen on his bed out like a light. He wondered whether he understood what he was dragged into. He wondered if any of them truly understood. His last thought before falling asleep was..._Why?_

Afterthoughts

Sorry to bust your bubble theKnowItAll but Wesley is not evil. This doesn't mean that he isn't still hiding some things. But I just couldn't make him evil. I like him too much as he is. But don't worry there will be some characters who are evil and this is far form the end of the troubles of all of the characters whether they are my originals or the existing ones.

Hope you liked this chapter and hope you now understand a little more about Wesley Tinderspoon then you did. Review soon!

Nightlit


	16. Snakes and More Unexpected Revelations

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 16: Snakes and More Unexpected Revelations

The next few days after their discovery about Wesley were very much the norm for the school, and that felt rather odd to Harry as most of the time there had been something weird or odd after such a revealing. Also generally there was something rather interesting a foot by mid October.

The two slightly interesting things that happened were that the Quidditch schedule was totally reworked and the announcement of the Halloween ball this year, which apparently was going to be a much bigger event then it usually was. More like the Yule ball was in Harry's fourth year. The Quidditch schedule was obviously redone to avoid the general house squabbles. The first match in November was going to be Slytherin versus Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin versus Gryffindor as had been the traditional pairing. This game had determined which house was hated more by the other in years past and had generally been the start of the real problems between the two houses. Slytherin and Ravenclaw didn't have the same animosity that Slytherin had with Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. The Ravenclaws didn't like the Slytherins particularly but there was no major hatred for them either. The next game was to be Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor followed by Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor followed by Hufflepuff versus Slytherin followed by Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw and finally finishing with Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Harry wasn't sure that finishing with that game as the Quidditch finale was exactly the smartest thing but he guessed it was better then starting with it. The best thing he could think of was that the headmaster hoped that they would have gotten over their animosity by then, but Harry found that extremely unlikely. Harry hardly thought those to be incredible considering what had been going on his previous years.

His hopes for more interesting events were answered that day where it was announced that there was going to be a demonstration in defense against the dark arts by professor Saren and it was revealed that there was going to be a school wide dueling demonstration the Friday before Halloween. While these weren't totally spectacular at least it was more abnormal then a different Quidditch schedule and a dance that he probably wouldn't have any fun at anyway.

Percy had also started sitting in on classes and judging how fit they were. But Harry hadn't heard anything about it, and thus he figured nothing interesting had come out of that yet.

Today Harry was going to be able to see one of Percy's visits because he was looking in on Leon, who only had one class. Harry was interested in seeing what Leon thought about it and what he was going to do about it since he was obviously one of Umbridge's targets. So he, Hermione and Ron decided to get to class early and ask him.

"What should I do? I am not really teaching the class any differently then it has been taught before except possibly the techniques involved." He smiled at them as he said that. "This is always how the class was taught, without house boundaries and using pensieves. So if he deems my style unworthy then he deems the class not worthy of existence. Besides what would be the point of lying to him? It's not like you all are getting hurt or even complaining or anything." Harry had to agree with him.

They had stopped using the colored pillows the previous week as everybody was now fairly used to everyone else in the class. Harry was increasingly glad that Blaise was the Slytherin in this class. He was certain that this over anything else was what made that first DA meeting go so well and what made Blaise into one of the students he trusted most out of his entire year. The only point against him was being in Slytherin. But that wasn't really a point against him at all as Leon was in Slytherin and he wasn't horrible and Harry surmised that most of them when not following the group unity and laughing when they were expected too weren't nearly as bad as they were made out to be. Even Malfoy wasn't as bad as Harry had thought, although thinking about what he was doing to Wesley, he was nearly so.

Percy entered the class at the designated starting point for the class. Of course because of Leon's rule about comfortableness, Harry, Hermione and Ron were the only students present. Plus they had changed from their robes into more comfortable clothing which for Harry and Ron was simply muggle street clothes. Hermione had worn something more like underclothes. But Harry assumed that this was because she had a class immediately after this and wanted to be able to change into her robes quickly. She wasn't the only one who did this either. Padma and Terry also wore underclothes, which meant that Terry was often in class clad in simply a tank top and boxer shorts. Once, to everyone's dismay especially his, Terry had forgotten to button them up and when he opened his legs he had flashed the entire room. Leon was the only one who didn't see it and that was only because he couldn't see.

It was that event more than anything that solidified the group together to include everyone because it was Blaise and Seamus who stood up for him, Blaise even going far enough to threaten to flash the room if they didn't shut up about it so that Terry wasn't alone in his embarrassment. No one kept it up after that, although Harry was certain this was because they all knew Blaise wasn't kidding. And while some of the girls (and Seamus) were slightly blushing at the notion, everyone still shut up. Terry had thanked him after class and from that point on all the remaining animosity in the class was gone.

Harry wondered what the other people in the class would wear today. As unlike Umbridge, Percy at least gave the students in addition to the professor a heads up before looking into the classroom. He said it was more professional that way. Of course that wasn't his greatest concern upon entering the classroom.

Leon was sitting cross-legged in the air like he always did balancing his wand on his nose. "Hello Percy, is there anything you wish to ask me while the majority of the class is getting ready?" He asked, never moving from his position and not even swaying his wand.

"Well, actually I was going to ask where the majority of the class was…" He stared at their professor as his voice trialed off nervously. Obviously he wasn't used to being around blind people especially, blind people like Leon who aren't really affected by their blindness. Everyone in the class had been used to it for a long while.

"They will all be here in about ten minutes…well maybe twelve." He said before hopping to a standing position and catching his wand out of the air in his hands. Percy looked at him amazed.

"I am curious…if it isn't too out of place to ask, how did you do that?" Percy asked, obviously intrigued.

"Nothing spectacular I simply attached a small whistle to the hilt of my wand and catch it by listening to the sound it produces. I don't think any of you would be able to hear it though. I'm sure another blind man could, or anyone with heightened senses, like the ones from my lineage but not just anyone." He smiled before showing them the end of his wand and sure enough there was a small wooden whistle attached to it that Harry had never noticed before because he couldn't hear it and it blended with the rest of the wand very well. That and it wasn't a very big whistle to begin with. Percy on the other hand didn't seem to be paying attention to the whistle.

"You're…lineage." He said in a slightly pompous but obviously worried tone. "You wouldn't be referring to your being a Dhampyr now are you?" he asked.

"Yes, I am." Of course to Harry and the majority of the school this was old news. And it didn't really shock anyone beyond the initial slight fear it produced. No one who knew Leon would ever think him incredibly dangerous. It wasn't that he magically manipulated people or anything it was just that he was so calm and understanding, and never seemed to act violent at all. No one in the class cared in the least bit at this point.

"Hmm…then I have a few questions for you related to that." Leon nodded, "Have you ever thought about drinking the blood of the student."

Leon did not lose his calming smile but responded, "I would be lying if I said the thought never crossed my mind. However I must point out that having a thought cross your mind and acting on that thought are two very different things. Besides, I don't drink blood anymore and so any talk of this is really a mute point. You can contact professor Dumbledore about that if you wish, he will corroborate my story."

While Harry was certain Percy would hold this against their professor he was surprised to see that Percy seemed impressed with that response. "Well said, I will not bring up this topic again." Harry sighed. At least Umbridge hadn't managed to poison Percy with her hatred of "half humans." He still sounded somewhat pompous and not all too likable but he was obviously not acting like the same git he had been in the past. The key was whether this was simply an act or had he actually changed. It seemed that at least Harry was right in that he was going to be fair and not hold personal grudges against people. Of course it was unlikely that he had a personal grudge with Leon, but the fact did remain that he was at least hearing the man out.

Leon smiled again, "Well back to your first question, do to the nature of this class and the innate dangers with learning this art. I allow the students to get to my class fifteen minutes after the generally designated starting time so they can change into more comfortable clothing than robes if they see fit too. Of you are wondering about this choice on my part then you may want to check the history books that have curriculum used by previous psionics professors because this, at least the allowance of more comfortable clothing in class, is often a part of that curriculum."

Percy noted something down on the clipboard he was holding before continuing. "You say this is a dangerous art? Then is it really suitable for students?" He asked.

"Well…many of the potions one learns in the Potions NEWT are deadly, and yet we still teach them. In our Defense against the Dark Arts NEWT classes we learn the unforgivable curses and what they do which is incredibly dangerous. Now given that and any number of other really dangerous things we teach students I do not believe that this is beyond what should be taught although the possibility of great harm is likely higher here and so we take more precautions so that that doesn't happen. Anything is safe enough to teach just about anyone given the right instructor and precautions." Leon's smile fell to a calm but serious expression which showed little emotion and yet wasn't stiff as many people were with such an expression.

Again Percy seemed rather impressed with his response. "Right you are, and since you seem knowledgeable about the subject and have given me no reason as of yet to doubt your conviction or your ability I will simply have to watch the class to see how you are doing and whether in fact you are taking the precautions necessary or not." Leon smiled again and nodded. It was then that conveniently the remainder of the students started to walk in.

Padma and Terry were wearing their usual undergarments, both carrying bags with robes in them so that they could simply throw them over them and head off to wherever she went to after class, which seemed often to be the library with Blaise and now Michael, as Terry had a class after this one, which Harry hadn't known until Padma had told him as his class was in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room. Harry noticed that Terry was wearing the kind of boxers that did not have a slit in the crotch. Apparently he had learned his lesson. Justin shoed up wearing fairly standard Muggle street clothes like Harry and Ron, and Ernie was wearing jogging shorts and a t-shirt. Michael and Seamus entered next almost alongside each other. Michael was wearing shorts and a tank top and Seamus was wearing more street clothes.

It was Blaise that caught Harry's eye more than anyone else because he had chosen to wear nothing but jogging shorts. It wasn't that Harry normally was in the habit of noticing scantly clad men, but something in his mind clicked as he saw him and he couldn't help but notice that Blaise had virtually no hair at all aside of the hair on his head and, Harry presumed, the hair that all men had. The thing that clicked in his head and made him notice this was what Blaise had told him that first class about having an Indian ancestor. _His great great grandmother,_ Harry thought, _that would make him one sixteenth whatever that woman was…_ Harry realized that that could be enough. He also noticed then that Blaise skin was slightly darker then most of the other people's in the room. Not so dark that one would notice a difference unless they looked but dark enough so that it didn't have pinkish sections at all, it was all one solid color. Harry was certain that where he or Ron might get sunburn, Blaise would get a tan, _Lucky bastard!_ Harry thought. He, like most people, hated sunburns.

During all of this Percy looked continually more annoyed at the dress of each student as they entered the room. Harry could see why, Percy had always been obsessive about things being done according to the rules and this was certainly not in any rulebook Harry had seen nor had it ever been told that this was allowed. Then again no where had Harry ever heard of a rule that disallowed instructors to change the dress code for their class, and if there was then it is likely that Hermione, or if not her then one of the other prefects in the class would have brought it up when he first told them about it.

Of course it could also be that everyone was wearing actual comfortable clothing and Percy was stuck in those horrible ministry robes which looked incredibly uncomfortable to Harry. Harry snickered at the thought of Percy wearing anything but a robe. It seemed so wrong on the old Percy but he wasn't sure about the new one. Somehow Percy's new look made the formalities look strange on him. _He no longer needs the formal robes to look powerful._ Harry concluded. The robes seemed superfluous or even counterproductive. They almost made him look too much like his position. They separated him from every one else in a way that would not help his position at all.

As soon as everyone had gathered together Leon started the class. "Today we are going to be working on mind speech and telempathy." He spoke directly into their heads. Everyone in class was used to this by now and could easily tell the difference between when they were thought too and when they were spoken too. Percy looked confused. "For the remainder of the class you will not be allowed to speak you must find another way to communicate. Preferably this should be using mind speak like I have been doing with you for the entire semester but if you cannot accomplish that then anything will do."

"Now doing mind speech isn't something I can really teach you since we all think differently. And since really all mind speech is, is simple thought projection it is difficult at best to have a universal way of doing it. The suggestion I have for you is to not try and make them understand what you are thinking simply send it to them m in a way that makes sense to you and then let their mind figure it out. Likely you will figure out how to telempathically end emotions to each other before actually speaking that's ok but should be done sparingly especially with those not trained in the ways of the mind. As many people will not be able to tell the difference between theirs and your emotions." He then smiled, "I trust that you all have enough of a grasp on how projection works from everything we have learned in this class. But here is another slue and one that I think we all understand. When you put your thoughts into a pensieve you are in fact projecting them. This is relatively simple and I have no doubt that most of you will figure it out. Ask me for help if you need it and for now figure this out. Oh and I recommend doing it with your friends out of class as you will probably have more in common in thought process then with the others which in this case makes learning a lot easier."

Of course it ended up being that the students grouped together by house, which would have left Blaise alone had Justin and Ernie pulled him to them. It was all as well was Harry was about to pull him with the Gryffindors anyway.

Harry tried to ignore Percy, who looked more confused than anything and concentrate on what he was doing. He knew that while he was under no obligation to learn to communicate directly from mind to mind that that was the ultimate point of this exercise. He also knew that he was going to have to learn this one on his own, as even if there were a common way of doing it, he still wouldn't be able to communicate nearly effectively enough without talking without already being able to do it in order to really help each other. He knew that pensieves were similar to what he was doing and he knew that it was fairly simple because Leon had thought it was and he seemed to be a really good judge of this.

Of course none of this helped Harry succeed in what eh was doing in anyway as he had no idea where to start. It's not like he could take a memory out of his head with his wand and put it in someone else as if there were a pensieve. Actually he didn't know that he couldn't but he also saw no reason to wan to. He would lose the memory and they would gain it and besides that couldn't be mind speech because Leon was doing it without a wand.

Of course Hermione and Padma got it first and before he knew it both of their voices appeared in his head nearly simultaneously.

"I wonder how far we can do this from?" Padma voiced.

"I have no idea…" Hermione thought back.

"Good, good, good, you both figured it out! Congratulations that two of you so I guess you all gain twenty points." Leon thought.

This short conversation was more of a distraction then anything. The next projection was even more of a shocker though, and if that conversation was a distraction this was a red herring. It seemed like a random thought more then an intended message but the message itself was clear as, "Wow, I never noticed how cute Justin was before…" appeared in Harry's mind in Seamus' voice.

Harry froze for a second, before looking around. No one else reacted. "Did you just project that to me?" Justin's voice appeared in his head too then quickly, "Yes I did it!" in the same voice.

What sounded like Seamus stammering followed. "Um…I…um…wait I just did it too didn't I? Why didn't I see this before? It's so easy!" Harry was not finding this easy at all and his apparent ability to intercept the other communications in the room was becoming incredibly irritating.

"Yeah it is, let's see if we can annoy Ernie?" Harry heard. Harry looked at Seamus where he was sitting and a mischievous grin on his face.

It continued this way for the rest of the period and by the end not only was Harry the only person who had not figured out how to project his thoughts, even Ron had. He was also listening to every communiqué in the room simultaneously, which was making it even more difficult to concentrate on what he was doing.

Eventually he heard Ernie's voice in his head and for some reason even above the other chatter he could tell it was directed at him. _Well at least I can still receive things and understand them._ He thought. "You need any help?" He asked.

Harry wasn't sure how to respond, he wanted to mind speak back but he didn't know how. However Harry did realize something as son as he stopped trying to mind speak how he was the other voices in his head stopped. He wasn't sure what this meant but it appeared that he had in his attempts to actually speak that he had learned how to intercept other mind speeches without them knowing about it. Now if only he could figure out how to actually do it himself?

"Ok I'll take your lack of response to mean yes." Ernie said to him again. He then walked over and took Harry's hand. "Physical contact is what helped me get it in the first place." Harry wasn't sure what to do but he thought it couldn't hurt after all he hadn't been successful at all without it.

"Now I think you may be trying too hard, the first thing that…"

"_They are not speaking our language, and it is difficult to see what they are doing._" Harry and Ernie both jumped at the sudden audio intrusion. It seemed that they were the only people in the room that noticed.

"What was that?" Harry thought quickly. Ernie didn't respond, instead he looked like he was going into shock. Harry then realized why. _That was parseltongue…Which means…OH MY GOD!_

Suddenly Harry heard the voice again and at the same time Ernie snapped out of his stupor. Confirming to Harry was he now suspected. "_We must keep going they are not doing anything related to what we seek. The master will be mad at us yes if we do not hurry. We must find Dumbledore. We must find the enemy, death to him._"

At this both Ernie and Harry jumped up off the floor startling everyone else and ran out of the room both in the direction of the headmaster's office both ignoring all the yells after them. Harry not longer cared about anything other than getting to the headmaster. Apparently there were snakes sent by Voldemort in the walls and they were trying to kill him.

It was fortunate that Ernie was prefect because they were stopped by at least four order members who were patrolling the halls. Ernie simply showed his badge and said he had urgent business to discuss with the headmaster. Harry was too worried about what this meant to care about anything else. There were snakes in the walls of the school sent by Voldemort. That meant that it was possible for him to get snakes into the school, which meant any number of bad possibilities for all of them.

When they reached the headmaster's office they were presented with a new problem. "Do you know the password?" Ernie asked quickly.

"No, but I know it's always some form of sweet." Harry responded. "Shouldn't you know it since you're a prefect?"

"The prefect's aren't told the headmaster's password, unless we are called for something." Ernie said rather agitated now. "What are we going to do?"

For some unknown reason it was that which clicked the other part of this in Harry's mind. Ernie was a parselmouth, he had to be.

Suddenly Harry was filled with a rage that he could not control or even simply feel. It wanted Ernie's blood. It was years of pent up rage directed at who knows what and this had been a breaking point Harry didn't even know he had.

Harry grabbed Ernie right there in the hallway by the gargoyle statue that led to the headmaster's office. He slammed him into the wall there and stared him down. To anyone who was watching it would have looked ridiculous, Ernie was at least half a foot taller than him with broader shoulders and more obviously developed muscle. He could have easily pushed Harry off or even lifted him up and done the same thing higher on the wall. But Harry's rage, shown through his entire being, had frozen him. Harry knew that, he knew that he had power to do whatever he wanted to him, and what he wanted to do was make him feel pain.

"You are a parselmouth!" He spat in Ernie's face.

"Um…" was Ernie's entire response. The normally confrontational boy was anything but as he obviously understood all the ramifications of this moment.

"What about our second year? What about the basilisk? What about that snake!" With each question he shoved Ernie into the wall again. "That means you could hear what I said to it! That mean's you could have told them that I was telling them the truth!"

"I…I…" Ernie stammered.

"Is that all you have to say? I! I!"

Ernie let his body go limp. Harry realized that even with his rage he could not hold Ernie's weight entirely so he let the boy fall to the floor. He looked like he was about to cry, this made Harry happy. He would like nothing better then to see this boy who had caused him so much trouble his second year cry.

Ernie sat there for a little while right there against the wall next to the gargoyle statue and the headmaster's office before saying. "I was about to do the same thing." He said, "I was about to tell the snake off Justin, but you beat me to it. I hesitated because I was afraid and in the split second I had taken to think and decide to do it you had already done it." He looked more somber now then Harry had ever seen him.

"I saw how Justin reacted. I knew that he wouldn't understand what was being said, but the way he yelled at you, the way the room went completely silent. It scared me. I was just this close to doing exactly what you did. But for you it was simply saving someone. For me it was saving my best friend, only to realize that had I done what I intended I could have lost him as a best friend." A tear fell down his face as he said this. "After that the rumor's started flying and I was already scared. You se I had grown up in a wizarding household I knew what everyone thought of parseltongue. I had thought that if I used it to save someone that people might not immediately jump to bad conclusions about me, but then everyone but your friends jumped to those conclusions about you. And I knew that I wasn't nearly as likable as you were, not only that but you were still 'The Boy Who Lived' and I was just this random Hufflepuff." He then looked straight into Harry's eyes.

"I was scared, it was totally irrational but I thought that because you had been found that everyone would immediately start suspecting everyone else. I knew what that could mean, especially after hearing Justin, who was terrified, talk about you in our dorm. That was why I started those rumors because I thought in my panic that if I was obviously against everything than there wouldn't be any suspicion of me. What I should have realized was that there was no suspicion of me in the first place."

"Oh I wouldn't say that Mr. Macmillan." Both of them were startled by the headmaster's voice Harry out of his rage, although he was still a bit angry and Ernie out of his apologetic trance. Dumbledore then stepped out of the now open Gargoyle statue, a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. "Although I should like to know why two of my finest sixth years one of whom is a prefect were fighting in the hallway outside of my office when they are supposed to be in class." His smile didn't falter as he said this, it sounded casual as if he hadn't heard the apology and walked into the hallway to find Harry standing over Ernie with a look of rage on his face and wasn't admonishing them for not being in their class where they were supposed to be.

The rage fell out of Harry then and he realized that it didn't even feel like his own. He looked down at Ernie who looked pitiful sitting there on the floor and he felt for him. He wasn't sure what had happened, why he had done that. He remembered doing it but he couldn't think of a reason. He certainly didn't want to hurt Ernie now, after all he was one of his friends and even if they were not close, he had backed Harry up the previous year when many did not. Then he remembered what he had heard in class.

"We were working on mind speak in class today. And I was having trouble with it so Ernie offered to help me. We had just started when I heard something. No one else appeared to hear it and it was something about not being able to understand us and not being able to see anything."

Ernie stood up at this point, "I heard it too, yeah it was something like that I don't know I was concentrating pretty hard at that point." Dumbledore made no response to Ernie's admonition to him that he had in fact heard what Harry had heard. Ernie continued, "But then we both kind of stopped in shock I guess, snapping out of it only when we heard what they said next. They sad that they needed to find you, than I think they said they intend to kill you."

At this Dumbledore lost both his smile and his twinkle and said. "Thank you for this information." He said, "Now I suggest that you work out your differences, as it seems like you both have quite a bit to talk about, and I think that professor Saren would agree." With that he whisked himself down the corridor in what for Dumbledore was a quick and urgent matter.

Harry and Ernie just looked at each other they both seemed at a loss as to what to say. Harry wasn't sure what Ernie was thinking but he was feeling guilty. Certainly he had a right to be annoyed with the boy, even angry after what he experienced that year, but what he had done? Grabbing him in rage? He didn't know what came over him. Eventually he just settled on, "…sorry."

Ernie looked surprised, "Why are you apologizing to me?"

Harry wasn't sure how to respond I'm sorry …for shoving you against the wall? …for wanting to punch you in the gut over and over again? …for enjoying seeing you cry?

He couldn't decide so he decided to just let it go. "What are you going to do now?"

"Nothing, I can't afford for this to get out." He sounded very stern. "It would ruin me."

"Everyone knows about me? And after a while it doesn't seem to matter anymore. Even last year when they were trying to make me look bad they didn't concentrate on that at all." Harry said as they started walking to nowhere in particular.

"But you're the boy who lived. If nothing else you defeated You-Know-Who. What do I have? I'm just a pureblooded Hufflepuff with too much ambition for his own good. I'm surprised I wasn't sorted into Slytherin. The hat highly considered it."

Harry remembered his experience with the Hat and then thought of Leon. "The only reason I wasn't sorted into Slytherin was because I told the hat I didn't want to be…" He said. It was the first time he had ever told anyone except Dumbledore that, even Ron and Hermione didn't know.

Ernie looked surprised. "I think that was part of why I wasn't put in it as well. It mentioned me being too scared and then put me in Hufflepuff where I would have people to help make get over my fear."

"Let's go to the Room of Requirement so we can talk in private." Harry said.

"About…"

Harry looked at him, "What just happened and what we are going to do about it now that at least Dumbledore knows."

"We? And he won't tell anyone will he?" Ernie looked scared.

"He might. But no one who will care." Ernie didn't look very relieved by that. "Remember what that boy Devon said, about trusting snakes? I think that was for you as much as for me."

Ernie thought for a bit. "I don't know, but if you have any thoughts I'll listen to them. Oh…and thanks for not going crazy on me and telling everyone."

"You call what I did not going crazy?"

Ernie smiled, "Well…but you didn't tell anyone."

Harry smirked. "Why is it that all you prefect people have screwed up priorities?"

Ernie simply raised his eyebrow then shrugged. Then they walked off towards the room of requirement. Harry was certain that he had made another new friend.

Afterthoughts

I just wanted to get this out, the thing with the Defense against the Dark Arts stuff will be next chapter.

Oh and if you are reading this story please review even if it is just to say hi. I am becoming less and less motivated to read the story because I only have a few reviews after logging over 100000 words… So if you want delays of less than two weeks to a month please review.


	17. The Basilisk of Randomness

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one). Also, Maleficent (who is mentioned in this particular chapter as a reference) is a trademark of Disney Inc. and is mentioned here only in passing with no intention of claiming ownership or any form of monetary gain.

Chapter 17: The Basilisk of Randomness

Ernie and Harry reached the Room of Requirement with just as little trouble from the staff as when they were headed to Dumbledore's office. The room they got was quite cozy and appeared to be very private as well. Harry was sure that the room misread their intentions when they said they needed a room where they could talk in private. Yes it was certainly a room where one could talk in private, and snog and do all sorts of other things that he and Ernie had no intention of doing together

In the center of the room was a king sized bed made of satin which was shaped like a heart, and the entire room was a bright shade of pink. There were chairs that felt like they were covered in silk and on the wall was a bunch of random paraphernalia. Only some of which Harry knew what it did. Harry was surprised that such a room existed in a school. When he looked at Ernie he looked just as baffled as Harry felt.

"You didn't have any other intention when you brought be here right?" Ernie asked, in a rather wierded out tone.

"No…did you?" Harry asked sarcastically, he was certain that this was a random fluke. He was certain Ernie was not like Seamus, but even if he was he wouldn't have cared and this hardly seemed his style anyway. Apparently the room took some creative license when one wasn't very clear on what he needed. He would have to ask Hermione if she knew who had made that room. It was very curious to him.

They both decided in that split second to leave and ask the room again for what they needed, and a bit clearer this time. What they got was a lot more what they intended originally. It was merely an empty room with two comfortable chairs and a couch. It actually looked quite a bit like the Gryffindor common room, but without the red. It even had a fireplace. Ernie sat down on one of the chairs and Harry sprawled himself lazily on the couch. They both stared at each other for a while. Harry wasn't sure why, because of the awkward conversation they had had in the hall or the awkward moment they had had with the pink room.

Eventually Harry spoke, "Ernie…do you think you could be one of Slytherin's heirs?" He asked timidly.

Ernie shrugged, "I don't know, there is no way to tell is there?" He said, "I do know that I have wizarding blood as far as my family can count back generations but that is only ten or twelve of them, which may seem like a lot but is nowhere near a thousand years worth."

"But you are a parselmouth and so it is likely that…" Ernie looked angry all of a sudden.

"You see, that's the problem, one wizard who happens to be a parselmouth ruins it for everyone and of course because of the community's obsession with blood it suddenly means that everyone who is a parselmouth MUST be related to this person. Anyone who actually studied parseltongue would know that is totally not the case however." Ernie said.

"For one being a parselmouth has absolutely nothing to do with one's ancestry. Neither of my parents are parselmouths and no one in the family other than myself in all the twelve generations was a parselmouth either. They wondered where it came from. My parents at first were scared of me. It really sucked, what's a five year old supposed to think when his parents are scared of something he has been able to do his entire life? They hadn't explained to me what it meant at that point because they hardly thought it relevant to a child." Ernie sighed as he said this. The memories were obviously painful ones that he would just as soon forget. Harry could almost see the energy draining out of the boy as he spoke. Harry had memories like that, so he understood. He found he understood his friends a lot better lately, even Hermione.

"After getting over the fact that I could talk to snakes, which took a few months, they realized that I wasn't automatically a dark wizard because of it. I was scared for those months. They kept me in the dark then. After that they told me what I was, and explained to me what that was supposed to mean. I didn't really understand at the time, but it really didn't matter because both my parents were determined after that to get the real truth about parseltongue. So we contacted Arthur Weasley who we knew worked in the ministry. Of course you know him, he was well known for being a klutz and a muggle lover but he was also known for being open minded and willing to accept things and listen to them. He used a few of his contacts who were unmentionables to learn the real truth about parseltongue. After that we no longer feared it, instead we feared what the rest of the wizarding world would think of it. It was then that I started hiding what I was, with that event in our second year only reinforcing that note."

Ernie's angry expression got harder as he almost yelled, "But it is horrible what people think! That all parselmouths must be related to Slytherin! So he was a parselmouth, so what? There were parselmouths before him and there will be parselmouths after us! If all parselmouths were Slytherins then wouldn't they be called Slytherins instead of parselmouths? It's sick really. It is this reason more that anything that made my parents think twice about what wizarding blood means. While they weren't death eater potential they weren't very fond of muggle born wizards, and they liked half bloods even worse. But after learning more about how parselmouth didn't follow bloodlines they figured that blood couldn't matter nearly as much as many wizards claim it does."

He then sighed exhaustedly. "And yet, even knowing that I can't bear to face what people would think of me if they found out. I have worked too hard for too much to lose it all. Others do not know all of this…how does one deal with other's ignorance?" He asked, obviously rhetorically.

Harry just shrugged but then said, "Whatever the case is I do think you should tell Justin and Hannah about this. They are your friends and I doubt after all that our particular year has seen that they would turn their backs on you." Harry would have never said that a year ago, _I'm getting a lot more profound aren't I? Maybe Hermione is beginning to rub off on me? Next thing I know I'll actually ENJOY doing homework…Naw, never gonna happen._

"I'll think about it but I probably won't. Oh and thanks again Harry. I know I can be an arrogant git sometimes."

Harry laughed and said, "Oh but of course! But it just wouldn't be you without that though. You becoming perfectly nice all of a sudden would be like Hermione becoming stupid or Ron losing his appetite." With that they both laughed and left the room, having talked through all they wanted to talk about in private. When they got to dinner, for it was that time when they actually bothered to go somewhere important in their random wanderings talking about who knows what, they both seemed a lot less agitated. Ron, Hermione and Seamus looked at him funnily. He just told them that he and Ernie had something important to discuss and left it at that.

The rest of the day was very dull. Potion's class was essentially pointless. Almost everyone had failed the polyjuice assignment (not even the Slytherins had used their potions or written the essay) and thus Snape spent the entire time brooding at them while they made what had to be the simplest NEWT potion yet. It was so simple that even with Neville's nervous jitters he and Harry had managed to get the potion done. It felt odd working with Neville again after a month of doing very little work in the class. He could see that Neville was doing much better around Snape, not as much better as he had hoped. But like with Blaise he was managing to not ruin the potion they were making, even if Harry had to stop him form making a few mistakes. This potion that they were making was the skeleton regrowing potion that Harry had taken his second year. And it was so simple that he had no idea why it was a NEWT level potion. It didn't require any particularly odd or hard to get ingredients and only a few of them needed to be added carefully and "carefully" in this case generally simply meant while stirring. The only ingredient which was remotely out there was crushed human bone, but that wasn't exactly unexpected when you thought about what the potion did. Actually, Snape had told them. It required the bones of whatever animal it was supposed to be used on. But all and all Harry was bored the entire time.

Of course this meant that he spent a lot more time looking around the room at the other pairs then actually paying attention to the potion. He found that that was equally boring however as no one was doing anything particularly interesting. Hermione was doing the potions while Pansy sat there filing her nails as usual. Wesley and Blaise were having their generally happy looking conversation. Justin and Malfoy were yet again fighting over how the potion was supposed to be made. They had fought over every potion to date and of course had somehow managed to ruin every single one of them. He was certain that Malfoy was just trying to get Justin in trouble as he was certain that he knew what he was talking about. If Malfoy was good at any class it was potions, of course being Snape's favorite student helped, but as far as Harry could remember, Malfoy had always done the potions correctly. Of course he never knew if Justin did them right as he had always had double potions with the Slytherins. But he was certain that in this case Justin knew exactly what he was doing, as he seemed to wherever healing was involved. He decided that their squabble, as expected and common as it was, was the most interesting thing going on and so he watched them for the remainder of the entire class.

He was so happy to be out of that class that he barely noticed Lunch and so before he knew it he was headed to their defense against the dark arts class with his friends from the DA who were going on about professor Saren's demonstration and wondering what the blind Psionics professor could possibly demonstrate in a defense class. Of course Harry and the other members of the class knew the man better than any of the other students and at this point nothing would surprise him. After all he was the only professor Harry had ever seen levitate without a broom, and the only one he had ever seen balance a wand point down on the tip of his nose.

When they got to class a few students waved at Leon, Harry found this rather amusing as he knew for a fact that even if Leon was perceptive he wasn't SO perceptive that he would notice a wave coming his way. So he and the other members of the class yelled hi to him above the ruckus. He waved in response in their general direction. Harry noticed that he wasn't holding his wand instead it was latched to his right wrist and attached to his back was a fairly long but thin ornate silver sword in a rather nice looking sheath. Harry didn't recognize it. It certainly wasn't one of the swords hanging on the wall of his classroom.

It wasn't only he who was curious of what Leon was going to do. Although he was certain that the people in his class were more curious then those who weren't, after all if he didn't know the man he would probably assume he was simply a blind man and leave it at that. The people in his class would know better.

When people quieted down Leon faced Tonks and said "So shall we begin?"

Tonks nodded excitedly. Leon drew the sword, which looked to be entirely made of some silver like substance but Harry couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. What happened next was only slightly less than amazing. Tonks drew her wand and cast a volley of different charms and curses his direction at slightly different angles, and he blocked or deflected every single one with the sword. Some of Leon's movements were so fast that they reminded him of the way Kingsley was casting curses in the department of mysteries. He felt a ping of anger at this but let it go through him and in an instant it was gone. They finished by bowing to each other in what Harry thought was a very oriental manner before they booth turned to face a mostly stunned room.

Malfoy was the first to respond. "That's impossible! You aren't really blind are you?" He accused of Leon.

Harry suddenly felt his anger burst at this apparently it hadn't gone from him as much as he thought it had. He found himself jumping up out of his seat to the surprise of everyone and walking back to where Malfoy and the Slytherins besides Blaise were sitting. No one tried to stop him.

"What are you up to Pot…" Harry cut him off by grabbing his robe.

"I can't believe you would accuse a man of pretending to be blind! I might remind you that there are a few things I know about you that could vastly change how you are seen in your own house! About the summer…" Harry stared into Malfoy's eyes with such anger that the boy seemed to be even more scared then he was.

Vincent and Gregory had not stepped up to help him this time, of which everyone in the room seemed to be aware. They looked frightened, but if they looked frightened Malfoy looked terrified. Harry dropped him and felt his anger begin to wane. In the wake of his emotion, when he seemed to get his best ideas he had yet another strike of brilliance. He, in front of everyone pulled out two of the fake galleons and tossed them over Malfoy's head to Vincent and Gregory.

If everyone had been shocked before they were certainly shocked now. Harry imagined the DA members were more shocked though as they would of course know exactly what that meant. T everyone else it would simply look like he handed Vincent and Gregory each a galleon for virtually no reason. Vincent and Gregory looked just as shocked at this as everyone else. "Don't spend those, I'll tell you what they are about after class." This did nothing to alleviate their shock but they both nodded. He turned to face Malfoy again. "You may get one when you stop being such a git!" He said and then he turned to face the rest of the room.

Everyone looked pretty much how he expected them to look. All of the students who were not in the DA had totally perplexed expressions on their faces. They looked totally lost. The DA members with very few notable exceptions looked totally shocked and somewhat angry. Blaise was intrigued but didn't look all that surprised. After all he already knew that Malfoy was at his house all summer. Padma was much like Blaise as was Justin, who obviously knew about the summer as well. Hermione was actually smiling with a mischievous glint in her eyes that Harry had only noticed there recently and Ron was obviously annoyed but didn't look like he would say anything. Tonks and Leon were just standing in their previous positions smiling. Wesley just looked totally lost as to what was going on.

When he got back to his seat Hermione was the first one to talk. "Brilliant! Just brilliant!" She said, "Cutting him off from both his protectors in one fell swoop and getting us two more Slytherins at that!" She said to him excitedly. No one else understood at all what was going on. Zacharias Smith looked like he wanted to say something but apparently he didn't have the audacity to say it in class. But Harry was certain that the next DA meeting, which happened to be that evening, would be very interesting.

After all the commotion calmed down, which took another ten minutes or so. Leon responded to Malfoy's comments. "Well, I see you like so many others do not se how a blind man could do that. Now I could prove to you and everyone else in here Mr. Malfoy that I am in fact blind simply by removing my blindfold…"

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Seamus immediately stood up. "I don't think that's a good idea." Hermione said at the same time that Seamus said, "D, d, don't." and Ron said, "If you do may we be excused?" and Harry said. "Trust us you do NOT want to see that."

Leon smiled and Tonks said, "AH! But it would be so perfectly timed!" Harry was certain she wanted to see Malfoy quiver as she seemed to be targeting him since the beginning of the year.

Leon on the other hand nodded. "Of course I only said I could. But this is not place for that, if you want to see what my eyes look like then please see me after class." There was a smirk on Leon's face that looked rather like Fred's. It looked out of place there. He then continued as if this long interruption had never happened. "Both me and Tonks wanted to show you that a weakness is only a weakness as long as you cannot either get over that weakness or turn it into a strength." He showed the sword to the class. "Normally speaking it would be impossible for a blind man to anticipate one curse let alone that many, as curses do not trigger any sense besides hearing and sight until it is much too late to avoid them. Many curses don't have any sound at all besides the incantation and those that do generally do not give one enough time to evade them through sound alone. However this sword, which I acquired from a friend, is specifically designed for blind witches and wizards, which are rare but not unheard of. What the enchantments do is make the object vibrate in varying ways based on where a curse is, how fast it is and whether the weapon has a built in countercurse or not. The weapon has countercurses cast into it for some of the most common curses specifically ones that can break objects. And of course it can be used to block any curse that has little or no effect on non living things, such as the killing curse." Again Wesley looked like he wanted to say something about that but he didn't.

"Actually, even though I am referring to it as a weapon, these enchantments can be put into any object as long as it is plated with silver, and in fact are more commonly put into blind man's canes then anything else." He sheathed the sword, "The point is that most so called 'handicaps' can be removed or taken advantage of by one with the right knowledge, equipment, or both. And that an opponent's advantage may only be an advantage because of your point of view not because they are actually more likely to win, assuming that you use everything at your disposal."

Tonks cut in at this point, "Unfortunately, British Wizards are not known for their dueling ability world wide because of the fact that rarely have we actually done this in the past. Being caught up in our own history, some of us forget that anything else exists. Examples of this are the fact that many of use are too dignified to ever roll on the ground to evade a spell," she looked directly at Malfoy as she said this, "and even more do not consider that many of the spells that we judge to be charms are actually more useful in a duel than most curses are."

Harry knew from experience that this was correct. He had never really been that impressed with any of the Death Eaters he had seen's dueling abilities. If he had been he probably wouldn't be alive today to tell about it as he and his friends had always been outnumbered and out cursed and had yet somehow survived where many death eaters had not. He had grown up in a situation where dignity wasn't even a factor and so he never thought twice about doing something which others might find undignified. He would have to remember that for later. Even if many of the more stuck up Wizards in Britain were not known for dueling, he would make sure that he and all the members of the DA were. He completely agreed with Tonks in this respect. Not that he usually disagreed with the odd woman.

After that Leon nodded and then left the room. The rest of the class was aptly spent working on summoning and banishing charms. Tonks said that these are some of the most important spells to remember when in a duel.

Right before class was about to end Harry went over to where Malfoy, Vincent and Gregory were working, theoretically with Pansy, although in truth she was simply sitting there absentmindedly twirling her hair.

"What do you want Potter?" Malfoy said in the same voice he always used.

Harry would have nothing of it, "Oh shut it you know as much as I do that your threats are meaningless. And even if they weren't I am beyond caring about what you have to say. I have to speak with Vincent and Gregory in private and I will wait around however long it takes me to get that." Malfoy gave them the patented stare of his that said "follow me or else" of course after the summer it had as little effect scaring Vincent and Gregory as it did angering Harry. And when he got no response out of them whatsoever he stormed off, obviously angry at yet again not getting his way.

"Thanks Harry, glad someone besides that git finally showed some interest in us." Vincent said. Gregory nodded his ascent.

"Well…I think you might want to try avoiding hanging out with him, I suppose you were following him around just because you had nowhere else to be?" They both nodded.

Vincent then pulled out the galleon and stared at it. "Why should we not spend this? It looks like a normal galleon to me." He asked.

"Yeah," Gregory added, pulling his own out of his pocket.

Harry smiled before magically changing the numbers on the galleon, of course to the same thing they were before. He wasn't changing the meeting time, just showing them how it worked. Both of them jumped as their galleons got warmer.

"What the!" Gregory started but Harry cut him off.

"Look at the serial number. It should have changed into a time and date, actually today right after dinner." They both looked at it with surprised looks on their faces. "This is the time communicator for a defense against the dark arts club we made last year while Umbridge was busy not teaching."

Vincent looked worried. "You don't mean us go tonight? Draco would kill us."

"The others in this group too." Gregory said.

"Don't worry about Malfoy, remember his father has no power over him now, and if you join this group then he will have lost his only hold on you, the fact that you are friends with no on else."

"We don't have any friends. Well, each other." Vincent said.

"Yeah, even Draco…" Gregory said.

Harry thought for a moment. "Talk to Blaise then, he is a member. And I know that he would keep you company. He has already told me that he doesn't think you're that bad when Malfoy's not around. And with him you wouldn't even have to worry about Malfoy threatening you while you're in your dorm."

Both Vincent and Gregory looked rather relieved. "Thanks." Vincent said.

"Yeah, thanks." Gregory said before heading off towards the great hall and dinner.

Harry turned around to see Ron and Hermione standing by the door. Hermione spoke first. "How did it go?" She asked.

"Well, it looks like they are going to come, and at least even if they don't they seem excited to talk to Blaise and get away from Malfoy. It really does seem like the only reason they were in fact Malfoy's bodyguards for so long was fear."

"Yeah I suspected that as well while we were hanging out during the summer." Hermione said, "Especially after Vincent asked me for help on his NEWT work."

Ron looked unconvinced but didn't say anything about it, instead he said, "Well let's go get dinner shall we? I'm starving!" His stomach then grumbled rather loudly as if to prove his point.

Harry and Hermione just laughed and turned towards the great hall. "Hey that is not funny! I'm a growing boy and…" Harry and Hermione looked up at him skeptically, "Ok so maybe not. But I still need a lot of food, gotta keep this frame standing somehow." He then stood as tall as he could without standing on his tiptoes. Harry thought again how amazing it was how tall Ron had gotten. He was now easily the tallest Weasley. But of course he didn't say anything and just continued to laugh as they headed off towards the great hall.

When they got there, there was complete silence. When Harry looked he saw why. Not only was Blaise chatting with the Bloody Baron but Vincent and Gregory were sitting across from them and were talking every so often as well. Now this wasn't what was doing it though. Malfoy was continually trying to get their attention but was being thoroughly ignored by the three students. If he ever got close the Baron would look as him menacingly which caused him to back away before falling into the happy chitchat again. When this would happen Blaise would just look at him with a blank expression on his face except for one raised eyebrow as if to say "why are you even bothering?" After about ten minutes of this, Malfoy just gave up and it Harry could almost feel the relief from Vincent and Gregory. He still wasn't sure if he would end up friends with them after all they still didn't seem very likeable to him. But at least they still weren't enemies and Malfoy was at last on his own, and finally seemed to realize it as well.

Now would come the hardest part. He had gotten them away form Malfoy of that he was certain. After a while Blaise had been grudgingly accepted. But this was different. No one in the group had any personal reason to dislike the boy. This time it was Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Malfoy's cronies. Who had stood by him and even helped him terrorize the rest of the school. IN this case he couldn't help but think that any complaints would be justified. But he also knew that he had to remain steadfast. He knew that he needed allies and that liking them was not a requirement. Blaise walked up to him followed by Vincent and Gregory, and to Harry's astonishment, the Bloody Baron.

"Well?" The baron said, "I am curious to see this club of yours." Harry had not heard him speak before and it sounded to him like what he might imagine a male Maleficent's voice to sound. It was gruff and powerful and despite the words he used his statement sounded more like an order than a curiosity.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to show you." Harry responded although he was sure his voice gave away the thought that it could very much hurt to show him. In truth he was too terrified of what might happen to him if he didn't show the ghost what he wanted to see to think clearly about what might happen if he did. Blaise seemed totally unaffected by his scary demeanor and the blood covered body. Harry was a little bolstered because of this but not much. He found he was bolstered enough at least to ask a simple question, a mild curiosity that had been bugging him for most of the year. "I'm mainly curious…" Harry trailed off, the baron did not seem affronted by his speaking to him, so Harry continued. "Where is Nearly Headless Nick?"

"He prefers to be called Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington." The baron responded in a tone which was not to be questioned.

"Right," Harry answered rather pathetically. The baron took no notice.

"As for where he is, all I know is that he, as well as the other ghosts are off doing something for the headmaster." The Baron's mouth then curled into a grimace that Harry thought was supposed to be a smile. In fact he thought it might just look like a smile from where he sat in the great hall. The time the baron had waved at him came into his memory and he shuddered again. "Peeves is locked away, and I will let him out when I see fit." The way he said that made it sound rather ominous and for the first time he felt himself feeling true pity for the poltergeist. Wherever the Bloody Baron would lock one away was a place he thought no one deserved to be.

"The headmaster thought it would be best for me to stay here, something about me not being a very good sight." His grimace grew wider. "I obligingly agree, besides I like it here." He then flew right through Harry and the familiar feeling of a chill going through him simply added to the terrified chills he was already feeling. The baron laughed, he seemed to get pleasure out of Harry's fear. He looked at Blaise who had a happy smile on his face. He didn't see how the boy could stand him.

The baron then left hi to talk with Blaise and Harry realized that his demeanor was totally different when speaking with the boy. He still gave Harry the creeps but it seemed to him that other than being scary the Baron seemed quite harmless. Not wanting to test that in any way however he decided to keep his distance. And so he lead the four of them towards the third floor corridor where the meeting what scheduled to be. He noticed that Vincent and Gregory had been silent thought the entire thing, they both looked more frightened then he had ever seen them. He would have liked to think it was the baron that was scaring them, like him. But he knew that it was the prospect of what could happen to them at the meeting as they hadn't seemed particularly frightened of the baron at the table.

When they got to the ladder Harry wasn't sure he wanted to go through with this. He looked at Gregory and Vincent. It was obvious that they didn't want to go through with it either. He then looked at Blaise who prodded him forward encouragingly. It was the baron's accusing gaze which ultimately told him to go forward. _Unreasonable fear is a good motivator,_ Harry thought and then snickered at himself nervously.

If there was a commotion when Blaise arrived, it was nothing compared to the commotion caused by bringing Vincent and Gregory, let alone alongside the bloody baron. Colin and many of the younger member's faces turned completely white when they saw the ghost and totally ignored everything else that was going on. The majority of the older students seemed too angry to be scared as this time almost all of them banded together in one front to remove the offending party. The only people who walked over and stood by him and the Slytherins were Hermione, who didn't seem to be affected by the baron at all, Justin and to Harry's surprise, Ron, both of whom stood away from the baron and looked slightly nervous but they stood by them all the same.

Dennis, Wesley and Seamus stayed where they were sitting. Apparently they were taking the same stand they had taken on Blaise arrival. Harry noted Padma was sitting with them. That still left the majority of the students against him. But he had more people on his side then he expected. He honestly had only thought that Hermione would be there, he assumed Ron would continue hating them, but regardless of his personal feelings he was standing by Harry when almost no one else would. It was that more than anything that gave him the bolstering energy that he needed.

There was a stare off for a while. No one seemed to want to speak. Harry waited, he was sure that Zacharias would spout his mouth off eventually and he hoped he would sound so much the fool that more people would come over to his side. But it wasn't to be so they all sat there staring at each other.

In the end it was Blaise who finally broke the silence with a very nervous, "Aren't we even going to talk about this?" He there was still no response, he stepped forward putting himself in front of the small group on his side. He then put himself on the line in a way Harry had not expected by saying. "Well say it, how you can't trust the Slytherins because our parents are death eaters." It was a statement of fact not a question. There was decent in the ranks, even on his side Ron and even Hermione looked a little spooked. Justin held his ground though. "That's right! My parents are lesser known Death eaters." He stated to the room.

What ensued was nothing short of chaos. No one bothered making statement or even verbally responding at all to what Blaise said. And soon there were curses flying everywhere. Harry dove to the floor where he found Hermione, Wesley and Dennis. It appeared that everyone else was in a duel…no a battle to end all battles. He had not expected this, a fight without even a word from one of the sides. None were sure exactly what curses were going where or form where but he knew that quite a few of the DA members knew some incredibly dangerous curses, he couldn't even begin to think what curses Blaise, Vincent and Gregory may have been taught by their parents and while he was certain Blaise wouldn't use anything deadly he was not sure that Vincent and Gregory would be that forthcoming.

In the end it was a certain action on the part of a certain member who no one at all expected that ended the spell barrage. Blaise was about to be hit by about seven curses when Colin Creevy jumped in front of him and took all seven of them. He fell to the ground almost in slow motion as both sides watched at him. He began laughing and his legs began swinging wildly. He began throwing up through his laughs which made them look rather sickening and a bunch of little tentacles sprouted from his face. He began convulsing through his laughter and he began crying tears of blood through everything else.

Dennis screamed and ran to his brother. Harry was there in a flash as were Hermione, Justin and Neville. Hermione tried some counter curses but they weren't working, apparently this combination of curses was resistant to the individual counter curses. The fact that they didn't know what a few of the curses were didn't escape him either. In was then that Justin and Neville showed off what Harry was to be nothing short of miracle healing talent. They, along with Hermione managed to not only stop all the effects on Colin within a few minutes but they also quickly put him into a deep sleep. Dennis had started crying over his still unconscious brother. Blaise quickly levitated his body with _mobilicorpus_ and after checking with Neville rushed him off to the hospital wing. Dennis ran with him looking incredibly worried about his older brother.

It was then that Harry was scared beyond anything he had ever seen before aside of possibly Voldemort himself. Justin, Neville, and Hermione all stood up looks of all but total rage on their faces.

"WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!" Justin yelled, "You almost KILLED Colin! Is that what you wanted? To KILL Blaise?"

Neville continued, "I can't believe I thought you all were so great and helpful last year! What exactly was the point of this club anyway? I thought it was to teach defense against the dark arts to everyone who needed it so that we could survive against Voldemort!" Neville didn't even flinch as he said the name. Neither did Justin or Hermione for that matter. Everyone who had taken part in the onslaught was flinching at every word. "Or are we so cold and disallow entrance to those most vulnerable!" He went over to Vincent and pulled him up alongside Justin and himself, "Those who would be indoctrinated into the death eater's ranks by their own parents whether they like it or not!" Harry was surprised at Neville's understanding of the situation. He didn't really know why when he thought about it though. Neville was there at the department of mysteries, his parents were in long term care at St. Mungo's, driven insane by death eaters. He had seen first hand what they were capable of and understood it well.

Hermione spoke up last, and she sounded almost exactly like professor McGonagall which only seemed to increase the tension in the room. "You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Remember what the hat said? 'Split apart and Hogwarts will meat its bitter end. Or be as one together and then next to her you'll stand?' This is exactly what they were talking about! We need to know where ALL of us stand, whatever house we are in. And we need to allow everyone to make their own choice otherwise we are just as guilty of those Slytherins, or students from any house for that matter, who become death eaters by pushing them away as the people who indoctrinate them!"

Even the Bloody Baron seemed humbled at the outburst of the normally docile Justin, skittish Neville and logical Hermione. Their statements weren't hidden in any way. They had not glossed over the truth and instead had bluntly told everyone what they seemed to not see. Harry himself felt humbled by it, Neville's especially.

Justin, Neville and Hermione then went around restoring the remainder of the people who had been affected by the battle. Justin and Neville's dedication to healing showed as they made sure everyone was ok before worrying about anything else. Harry was certain that if they continued to work together that the two of them would make a great professional team and he was going to suggest that they start studying together after this was over.

There was no point in continuing this meeting, and Harry would not have been surprised if Vincent, Gregory and even Blaise never shoed up again. But when Vincent tried to leave Neville would have nothing of it. "You cannot just leave after all of this!" He said to the bigger boy. "Don't you see? If you leave now you may never get this chance again…"

Hermione then walked over to them pulling Gregory. Alongside them was Luna Lovegood who started talking to both of them. "I think this was a sign, it really shows just how hard it must be to be a Slytherin at this school. But you are the ones breaking the mold as long as you stay. You would be saying, 'Slytherins are Hogwarts students too and we deserve respect for that if nothing else.' It is not blood that will make the other students respect you or how big and tough you look. If you really want respect you have to earn it by taking a chance and trusting those outside." She then walked off as if that profound statement had never left her mouth.

Ginny, who had been silent up until now spoke next. "Ugh! That was too long, I hope you choose to say I really do it's great you know what we do here." She then tiredly walked off towards the ladder and Harry presumed the common room.

Vincent and Gregory then walked off and Harry knew they had to decide now if it was worth it to them, but he felt responsible for this in a way so he grabbed Vincent and Gregory on the way out and said, "I'm sorry about this…" Watching the two exhausted looking boys head off towards their beds.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Justin were the last ones to leave. They walked silently through the halls exhausted. _Was it worth it? Really?_ Harry thought. Justin stopped and waved goodbye as they passed the turn off that would take him to the Hufflepuff common room.

They didn't speak at all and when they got back to their dorms they all feel asleep.

The next morning everyone at breakfast everyone in the school was talking about Colin's brush with death. And the entire feel of breakfast was one of sorrow and guilt. Harry was certain that the majority of the students were unaware of what happened but the sense of sorrow was certainly affecting them. Even the Bloody Baron looked sad next to where Blaise was sitting, still across from Vincent and Gregory Harry saw so at the very least they hadn't ruined that, was looking sad instead of creepy.

The rest of the day was the same way, Zacharias looked horrible and it seemed to Harry that it finally dawned on him the gravity of the whole situation and his part in it. Harry wasn't sure what to do. But he knew he would have to do it soon. He would talk to Hermione about it that evening. He was certain that she would know what to do, after all his "brilliant" plan had turned into a disaster.

And so dinner came and went and the feel of the school didn't change in the least bit. Harry wasn't even sure what had gone on in his classes, he just knew that he would have to deal with this somehow.

As he was walking towards his common room a grey hand was put on his shoulder. Harry looked and saw a boy he had seen only once before and yet had seen many times. "You want to talk?" Wesley asked him in a weak voice. Harry knew what he was doing, he was trying to help by being himself and Harry was glad but he wasn't in the mood for condolences at the moment he needed solutions so he said. "Not right now, I need to talk to Hermione…" Wesley looked slightly hurt at this but he nodded and then the human boy he knew was standing there in front of him again. "But if you want you can probably help. I need help with what to do about…" He let his voice trail off just in case anyone he didn't want to know was listening. Wesley nodded a little relieved but obviously not exactly happy and they both walked silently to their common room.

They found Hermione diligently working on something. "Hermione I need to talk to you. It's about the DA…" Hermione faltered at what she was doing before saying, "Go on, I need to keep working to distract myself." She sounded exhausted and overworked. The only other time he had seen her even close to like this was their third year when she had been using a time turner to take nearly every class they were allowed to enroll for. But the she had been happy and overworked, now she just seemed overworked and it was taking a toll on her ability to function.

"Why does everything have to happen to us?" She asked in a sullen voice. Wesley looked around and then became his other self once more before hugging her. Harry just sat there watching them. Hermione looked at Wesley then quickly looked around the before saying. "Thanks, that was rhetorical. You should remain what's safe, after all this is a rather public place." She said to him, Wesley nodded to her and the human boy was there again. Harry wondered what it would be like to change shape in an instant. But that thought was very quickly overridden by his memory of what had happened the previous day.

"Well what should we do about it? We need to fix this soon or we'll need to disband the DA. We don't really need it anymore Tonks is a great teacher."

At this Hermione started crying. "Don't you see Harry? This is exactly why we really NEED the DA! The instructors are just as bad about the house rivalries as the students are maybe more. And Dumbledore as great as he is has been little help to us other than to give us profound messaged usually after it is too late for them to matter! It has always been up to us students to work things out. The DA is the perfect way to get people together. I say instead of making it a defense against the dark arts club we make it a student run house! We will be the glue that holds the houses together! I am tired of seeing people get hurt because of the stupid house rivalries!" Hermione looked determined. "Schedule another meeting for tomorrow night! We need to make sure this is finished. We need to know where everyone stands." Harry nodded, he knew that all along.

Wesley looked at them solemnly before saying. "Use me…use this." He then turned into his true self. "If they see something…"

Harry was certain this was why he was sorted into Gryffindor his willingness to give up everything for others but Harry couldn't let him do that. "No I can't let you do that, but thanks for the offer. We need to meet with the people we know will …Hermione what is that?" Harry noticed that Hermione was making something he looked closer and it was obvious what it was. "Why are you making a snake?" Harry asked incredulously.

"Actually," Hermione responded, almost sounding as perplexed about it as Harry was. "It's a basilisk."

"How can one tell the difference between a model of a snake and a basilisk?" Wesley asked he was now also looking at the model.

"Actually I never was making a model of a snake. I always knew it was a basilisk."

Harry looked at it more closely and then he noticed the anchor that he had handed her that day. He then noticed that the statue was made out of what seemed to be completely random objects that somehow fit together almost perfectly to make a snake. He noticed his anchor, a teapot, a flyswatter, a fishing rod. The list grew on and on.

"Wait. Are these the things that people have been handing you randomly for the last month?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Hermione said.

"I noticed that too, now that I think about it, it was odd that I woke up from a dream I couldn't remember with a silver replica of a waffle iron in my pocket and the urge to hand it to Hermione. I don't think I even OWNED a regular waffle iron let alone a silver replica of one before that." He then looked at it. "But I'm with Harry why did you use all of these random things to make a basilisk?"

"I honestly have no idea. But I do know that I need to give this to the headmaster."

And so they all stared at this odder end to an already abnormal day. Everything that had happened was beginning to form a pattern in Harry's head but he couldn't pick out what that was.

So they flooed the statue to Dumbledore using the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room, Hermione somehow randomly had floo powder on her and strangely Dumbledore took it without question as if he had been expecting for three of his students to floo him in the middle of the night in his office.

Of course what struck the students the most was the feeling of normality of the events which all three analytically knew were anything but. But they had more important things to worry about now like planning the next DA meeting. And so Harry, Wesley and Hermione went to the sixth year boys dorm, had Wesley wake everyone up as Hermione figured if they were going to have someone who everyone instinctually trusts they might as well take advantage of it and wake the others without much fuss, and the seven of them worked into the night planning and worrying about the next meeting. Not even Ron and Seamus complained about not getting sleep and Dean seemed to be totally fine working alongside Seamus. That event had been the breaking point for a lot of people. And Harry had no idea how to put them back together.

Afterthoughts

Wow, that was just…wow to write especially on an empty stomach an hour after I usually go to sleep. But I did it I got it done and posted!

As you can see theKnowItAll you were actually right on two accounts. Great guesses. I already had plans to make the portion of the plot about the stay over the summer and I figured why not do it now? After all you all need some unhappy problems as oppose to my previous almost problems but not chapters. And I hope you liked your little taste of violence. It's not the gore you wanted, that is to come later. But this is just a little bit of what is to come. Hope you liked it. : )

PS: I know the rating will become R at some point. If you think I have passed that point then please tell me in a review and I will adjust the stories rating accordingly. Oh and even if it's not please review anyway. I like to know what you think of my story. I mean I figure if you have taken the time to read up to this point you have to think something about it.

Oh and you might think that the title doesn't seem to have much to do with the chapter. You're right it doesn't. But the title in this case it the thing in the chapter that is most related to the plot as a whole. That is all and that is the last time I give you any directly from the author clues about the plot.

Oh and if you haven't yet, read Undone by Rose Rovente, it is one of the best fanfics I have read ever. Trust me the summary does not do this story justice. theKnowItAll, you will ABSOLUTELY love this story I'm POSITIVE of that.


	18. Devon's Disaster

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 18: Devon's Disaster

"You did tell him he could do it with no hesitation right?"

"Of course, and I will continue to have done so if you ask me twenty more times." Harry and Hermione were standing by Justin, Blaise and Padma away from everyone else so they could talk in private. Ron, Seamus, Dean, Parvati, Lavender, Dennis and Ginny were also here on the other side of the lake by the dark forest. They had needed a place that was big enough for what they intended and open enough so that it wouldn't seem too odd. They had all agreed after the fact that that had been pretty stupid and wanted to see the DA work this year. Dean and Ron even agreed that the Slytherins should be given a chance to prove themselves. After all neither of them could disagree that Blaise had turned out to be much nicer than anyone could have guessed. Besides none of them thought that it was prudent to start a curse brawl right in the middle of a meeting.

"Padma…"

"For the last time YES I did, god Harry you'd think we didn't spend the better part of a day preparing this!" Padma was speaking the truth. After the Gryffindors prepared the meeting they had talked to those who they thought would agree with them and planned the rest of this out whenever they had the time to. Harry was incredibly agitated however as he needed this to work, the last thing he could afford right now was to alienate any portion of the school, especially the Slytherins. He did not want any more Snape's to be created do to him or anyone else while he was here.

"I got them to come, although I still don't know why I bothered, this may work for today but I doubt it will help anything in the long run." Blaise looked dubious, then again Harry as not surprised after all he had almost experienced what Colin had, Colin's sacrifice being the only thing that stopped him from that fate. Colin was still unconscious in the hospital wing.

"Even if it doesn't we still have to try something and soon, we can't afford a war in here alongside the war out there. Even the sorting hat knows that." Hermione was adamant. "And where is he! He should be here by now!" She did a small clock charm on two piles of sand. "He's already late.

"It's not going to be easy after all he has to get the members from three houses when he barely knows anything about them." Padma said, "He will make it, there is very little way he wouldn't."

Harry wasn't certain, "But if he doesn't…"

"He will! Remember to us it may seem odd but to him this is normal, he has known how to do this his entire life even if he never really intended anything by it. He will do it we just have to make our part of the plan work."

Justin looked around, "Where are Fred and George? They aren't exactly required for this to work but it would be nice to have some older faces around that people trust…well maybe not trust but at least respect." Justin's worry showed in this statement.

"Hey, sorry I decided to come after all at the last second." Ernie said rushing into the magically sealed area.

"About time," Justin said to his friend, "and Hannah and Susan?" He asked.

"They are helping him with the Hufflepuffs. After all it is them who are having the most trouble with this. I'm still not sure about our part of the plan." Ernie looked worried.

Blaise spoke up, "I had similar issues, but apparently we're out voted."

Ernie looked around, "Well at least we got some people to our side who weren't before this will at least make it look better, not like there is one side and the other." Harry wanted to point out that Ernie had not been on their side before, or at least hadn't voiced it but decided now wouldn't be the best time.

Suddenly Wesley rushed into the area of the wards. Harry noticed that he was Justin for a split second before being Wesley. Apparently the others who were with him noticed too. Of course Blaise, Justin, Hermione and Padma already knew. Ernie reacted and it was obvious that he had seen it but he hadn't said anything so at least this wasn't going to be an immediate issue. After saying that he joined the others who were starting to form their planned circle.

"I wish these wards weren't two way." Justin said, "It is making me nervous I mean I know we are ready for them but what if they suspect…"

Wesley looked at him, "I don't think that most of them do, but some obviously are at least a bit nervous at a meeting so soon after Tuesday's disaster. I think we should get this over with, it will only make them more nervous to wait."

Harry totally agreed with him to he signaled everyone to get ready. He them made sure he was holding the wand correctly, it would be the first time he was using it in an important situation. Now he knew that they were outnumbered despite that he had been surprised at the number of people who actually wanted to take part in the plan.

Hermione stood in the middle, she was going to remove the wards and thus couldn't possibly help with everything, it had to be coordinated perfectly they couldn't make a mistake.

"Damn, looks like Fred and George aren't showing…" But then the two of them popped into the middle of the circle, George wearing the Santa Hat that had been on Harry's dresser. "I re-enchanted it for a second." Fred explained when Harry raised his eyebrows.

"Remember that the spells will be weaker than normal." George cut in, both the twins had the serious expressions that Harry rarely saw but knew they both had from little experiences with them.

"Ok I'm ready." Hermione said her wand poised to do the final charm.

"Everyone get ready we don't exactly know where they are so we have to get as much area as possible with the initial casting." Harry said. "Dennis, Hermione, Padma you know what to do."

"Yeah, get any that avoid the starting volley." Dennis said. Padma nodded her acknowledgement.

Harry took a deep breath hoping that no one had decided to leave as he wanted everyone here for this. "Blaise you know what to do right?" Blaise nodded and walked off disappearing upon leaving the warded area. "Ok Hermione, on three."

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three…"

Upon the third count Hermione removed the Wards preventing the five groups of people from seeing each other. As they had expected the four groups of students who were not in the center portion of the wards immediately went for their wands. This was the crucial part of their plan if it failed they would all likely end up in the hospital wing and there certainly would be no fixing what had happened. The group in the center of the previous wards immediately yelled, "_Omnus__ expelliarmus!_"

Spreads of light went in every direction and as the spread disarming charm worked its power, the center group was pelted in a rain of wands. Before anyone could do anything Hermione, Dennis and Padma immediately followed suite with non spread charms and the remaining wands joined the pile.

Wesley then filled his part and triggered the final ward warping the area around the students so that they could not leave, as well as blocking off the wands from accessibility. When all the light cleared and the deed was done, Harry wasn't exactly surprised at what he saw. The majority of the students that were not a part of the plan looked more shocked than anything. The students in the center then dropped their wands to their sides then tossed them through the wards to join the others making it totally visible that they intended no unfair advantage in whatever strife that might come as a result of their rather dangerous plot.

Harry spoke first, "Ok, now I know this may seem rather stupid of us but we really needed to TALK to you about this as oppose to causing another fighting match." He said quickly. No one responded to it, although no one really seemed angry either, everyone was still too shocked was all Harry could guess. After all it wasn't as if they had been given any choice in the matter.

It was, as Harry expected Zacharias Smith who was the first to throw off his shock and speak. However he was not expecting what he said. "Ok, so everyone is wandless. Great, now HOW are we supposed to get out of here?" He sounded both smug and very annoyed at the same time.

Harry hadn't thought of that, but of course someone else had so it didn't matter. Hermione spoke, "Wesley can remove the wards of course after all he did cast them and any Wizard worth his salt should be able to remove his own wards even without a wand. American wizards are known for wards hence using him." Zacharias' smug expression dropped as he realized just how thought out this was.

Padma spoke next, "Besides, that is not at all what we are here to discuss."

Zacharias opened his mouth as if to speak but stopped as if he thought better of it and remained silent. It seemed that no one wanted to speak, but again it was Blaise who ended the silence. Harry wasn't sure if this was good or bad but at the very least it was something.

"I'm sorry for what I said…it wasn't prudent of me at all to throw that out there. I really wasn't thinking…very Gryffindor of me actually not very Slytherin at all." There were a few nervous murmurs at that comment but Blaise continue before anyone could say anything. "At this point though it looks like the truth is what will solve this if anything will. I was not lying when I told you my parents were death eaters." A few of the students went for their wands only to realize that they were not there. Harry was glad in a way that they had done it this way but he was not so glad at how the conversation was going.

"As many of you know I spent the summer in the United States with the Indian tribe of my ancestors." He shed a tear as he said this, "I…I was sent there by Dumbledore actually. He was gathering students with Death Eater Parents whom he knew wouldn't want to join their ranks and getting them away from them. It was a stroke of luck that I had that ancestry really…It gave me the excuse I needed to get out of there." Blaise looked like he was about to cry. "The fact is that I lost everything this summer. When I left I lost my family and my old acquaintances. I met some interesting people over the summer but at this point I cannot ever return home. I would either be forces into servitude or killed. This place this group of people is my only solace." He began looking around the room. "Great now you're all going to think I'm making a scene to get my way." He snickered, "Whatever is is, but know that I need this club the connections it allows for me. Whether you like it or not I am on your side now."

Ron spoke up next surprising Harry even more, "Blaise wasn't the only one who had this happen to them this summer," he said nervously. "It happened to Crabbe, Goyle and the Ferret too." Harry and a large number of the students snickered at this. Zacharias even smirked before scowling again. "They in fact stayed with Harry here all summer." There was complete silence as he said this. _What is Ron thinking?_ Harry asked himself.

"Believe me, I was shocked at this. Those bloody gits? All summer? And Harry was going on about how Crabbe and Goyle weren't so bad once you got them away from Malfoy. Hell, he even told us that he and Malfoy had stopped being enemies? Got that? Malfoy and Harry on cordial terms with each other? I was shocked as the rest of you." Ron looked around as he said this.

"But then there was the thing with Blaise that first week. Yeah you would remember the one, with the Punch after Care of Magical Creatures? And after that I realized that Blaise could actually be a nice guy. Well…is a nice guy really. Malfoy's still a git, but that's nothing new. What is new is that his cronies are no longer along side him, they are here and for better or for worse we have a decision to make." He then took a deep breath as he had everyone's attention. "We either kick them out and hand them to the death eaters, whether they intended on joining…or not." He then spoke very slowly, "Or we act like Gryffindors take a leap of faith, test our courage and let them stay…"

There was complete silence as Ron finished. Everyone was staring at him, even Vincent and Gregory, who had been standing there alongside Blaise, all three of them disarmed in the initial volley. Harry looked at his friend, "Wow…why?"

Ron shrugged, "It needed to be said," was his only response, apparently having Ron say that was an actual clincher for a lot of people, as it was no secret that Ron had been adamant against the majority of the Slytherins all year. Also the fact that Ron had managed to say all of that with a straight face was not lost on people. Harry had noticed changes in Ron the previous year, just like there were changes in everyone else he knew. But his anger throughout that entire year had made him pretty much ignore what they were. He would have to listen to him more.

Zacharias smiled then and said, "Whatever, I'm no Gryffindor and I still think this is a stupid idea. But if you all think it's THAT important then…" He trailed off, then pointed a finger at the Slytherins and said, "But I will be watching you! Any false move and I mean any and I will personally make you pay for doubting my friend's trust!"

Harry noted the tone of voice, the body language. Harry realized that Zacharias did in fact consider them all friends and even if he had his own way of showing it that he really was trying to do what in his opinion was the best thing. Harry still thought he was quite the git, but at least he was a protective fairly loyal git. Harry smiled at that thought.

Wesley spoke next, "I didn't actually put up any wards besides hiding the wands…I didn't think that was a good idea honestly so I guess what I am saying is. You can go whenever…" At that he closed his eyes for a second, put his finger behind his left ear and the wands all appeared.

Padma talked next, "I don't expect you to decide tonight. But know that we cannot afford to have those who do not trust our motives. Well, Harry's motives I suppose, which I trust by the way. But we all need to be there for each other and anyone who doesn't think they can be there should not continue coming…"

There were murmurs from everyone again and then people started to pick up their wands and walk back towards the castle. Harry and Hermione had told Dumbledore about it and he had presumably told other order members, since the order already knew about this. He hadn't wanted people to get in trouble and he knew that the best way to do that would be to let Dumbledore in on his plans. Whether he thought it was a good idea or not he had not said but Dumbledore had given them his support in any case and so now the students could all go back to their beds for the most part undisturbed.

It was almost a stroke of luck that this had happened when it did, even if it wasn't lucky that it happened at all. The Halloween ball was only a week away now and after only a day of negativity people quickly started obsessing over the dance and while the DA did not forget what had happened it was obvious that they all would rather worry about something trivial like a school dance and so the feel of the school lightened quite a lot. The fact that it was announced that it was going to be a costume ball probably also had something to do with that. People not only had to worry whether to get a date but also what they were going to wear.

The costume ball was apparently Tonks' idea. According to Parvati and Lavender, the Gryffindor source for all things gossip, she had gone to him saying that it was a muggle tradition that might just be the lighthearted thing that everyone needed. Dumbledore had obviously agreed as it was changed officially from a ball into a costume ball a few days earlier.

Harry wasn't sure what he was going to do. Aside of having no idea how to dress up he also didn't exactly have anyone he wanted to take as a date. But he also wasn't so keen on the thought of everyone wondering why he didn't have one so he was divided on the matter. So of course he did nothing about it and it became more and more likely that whether he thought it prudent to get a date at all he was going to go alone. His costume was going to be pretty easy, he would wear his muggle clothing and go as whatever everyone thought he was. The oversized clothes that used to be Dudley's were easy. No one would think twice about them after all this WAS a costume ball and that way he wouldn't have to think. Besides it wasn't like he wasn't used to wearing the things having worn them for most of his life.

Ron, remembering the previous years vividly had asked Hermione to go to the dance with him very quickly after realizing that he had to before someone else did. Harry had stood there for both his friends' moral support thought the entire awkward ordeal. Only very few actual intelligible words were spoken and it took Ron almost twenty minutes to simply say, "Will you go to the dance with me?"

Hermione had blushed and said, "Yes," although it was obvious to Him that it would have been the same had Hermione been the one to as him. It had taken them twenty minutes to get to that point and both of them looked incredibly nervous during the entire ordeal. Thankfully no one decided to interrupt them. Of course many of them were obsessing over their own dates or lack there of and so had little time to worry about embarrassing other students.

Neither of them had told him what they had thrown together for costumes. Although Harry had a hunch that Ron had conjured Chudley Cannons quidditch robes. Not to mention he had seen Ron hiding something that was a rather bright shade of orange.

Dean had asked out Parvati rather instantly after hearing that there was a ball, apparently he still considered them the most beautiful girls in their year. Parvati had teased him about it saying things like "I'll think about it." for the entire evening before saying yes and pecking him on the cheek right before she ran up the forbidden stairs to her dormitory leaving Dean standing there blushing incredibly brightly considering his dark skin. Dean was going as a Vampire, although he had no idea what that entailed. He only knew that he had announced it to the others in his dorm and then left it at that.

Neville had not told anyone who he had asked out however he did say that he had asked someone. Lavender and Parvati cornered him at every chance they got for a while trying to get him to spill. But he held steadfast and eventually even they stopped. Neville was also quiet about his costume, and in fact no one bothered to ask him about it.

Lavender was refusing dates saying that she wanted to go there alone. Harry was surprised at this, but later Hermione clued him in that she was going to try her hardest to steal Roger Davies from his current date. She didn't give him any more details about it only saying that there was a dare involved and that it would be a rather spectacular event. Of course given this, the fact that she would not tell anyone anything about her costume was not a surprise either.

Wesley was apparently going alone or "stag" as he put it, a term that had confused Harry and almost everyone else until he had explained what it meant. Given Wesley's abilities, Harry had no clue what he was going as, and all Wesley kept saying was "I'm still deciding." Most people who talked to him kept insisting he decide soon lest he not be able to get a costume. Harry and Hermione knew that that was irrelevant.

Seamus had declined to talk about the dance at all. Despite working out their differences enough to work together on the DA, it was very apparent that Dean was in fact still very uncomfortable and somewhat angry with him. He wasn't gong to have a date as there would be no point in brining a girl now, it would just put more attention on him and asking out a guy was out of the question. In fact the closer the dance got and the more people got excited about it, the more depressed Seamus seemed to get. It wasn't until the day before the dance though that Neville, George and Wesley approached Harry about it.

"You know I think we really should go talk to Seamus about the ball. He looks rather down and it wouldn't exactly be a party without him." George said a waning smile on his face, obviously forced.

Neville spoke next, "We thought that maybe if all four of us, you know the people that first were on his side when all of that happened talked to him that maybe we could convince him to go as it is pretty obvious that his plan is to avoid the dance altogether."

Wesley spoke next, "And really it is unlikely that anyone will even have a second thought about that unless he brings a date. Especially considering that it is going to be a costume ball." They all agreed with this logic, now the trick was going to be convincing Seamus of it.

They found him in their dormitory throwing exploding snap cards and watching them blow up absent mindedly. This was one of the things he did commonly when depressed alongside setting up gruesome battles in Wizards chess simply to watch the pieces hit each other and conjuring random object simply so he could blast them away. Before this year they had not known about these destructive tendencies but this year they had seen a lot of them.

"Hey Seamus!" Wesley called giddily, a bit to giddily in Harry's opinion, but Seamus responded the way he normally did when he, was acting depressed, he grunted a half hearted "hi" at it and continued what he was doing.

George started next, "You decided on your costume yet?" He asked, very casually as if he were asking whether he would be at tomorrow's lunch. Seamus didn't respond, he did noticeably tense however.

"Seamus…" Neville started, but Seamus turned towards them looking miserable and said. "I don't know…I really do want to go…it's just."

Harry thought he understood what Seamus was worried about. He didn't want to be the center of attention. It also dawned on him that Seamus wouldn't have much time to plan a costume. Them all being wizards it wasn't exactly hard to make a costume once one was thought of but one still had to think it up in the first place. He didn't know what to say.

Wesley however, seemed to be taking full advantage of his natural charm and again Harry was impressed with how he managed to use his "false sense of trust" only in helpful ways. Harry now didn't think of it as a false sense of trust, as much as a gift the boy had. If he used it to manipulate people negatively Harry had never seen it. However he himself had seen how it was helpful in calming others on numerous occasions, including when the person was him. He walked over to Seamus and said, "It's a costume ball. I doubt people will be taking it very seriously as a dating environment. And besides, me and Harry are going stag, and I expect it will be more than just us."

Seamus looked a little less down at this but still looked reluctant. Harry thought for a second and said what seemed the best thing anyone could say at the moment, "I understand what you're thinking, but really I don't think it will be bad. Really what we should be worrying about instead of how people will respond to you being there is what you should wear."

Seamus smiled at that and then sighed saying, "That's the other problem."

Wesley smirked in Harry's direction before saying. "No worries, I'm sure that the girls can help you with this."

Seamus looked at him and said, "Wait, you don't mean…but Lavender and Parvati would have me dressed like a ballerina!" Wesley grabbed the bigger boys arm and led him out of the room, an evil grin on his face, with Seamus struggling against him. It was obvious that he wasn't really struggling though as if he was there was no way that Wesley would have been able to move the bigger boy. George laughed and Neville smiled.

The rest of the night was very uneventful as was the majority of the next day although that was because most people spent the entire day getting ready for the ball. Harry wasn't worried about time in the least so he spent most of the day by himself or with Ron or Wesley as they were the only people who didn't seem to have a worry at all about time. Harry had asked both of them if he had decided what they were going to be. Ron had said to wait and see and Wesley had said he was still deciding. Unlike everyone else though there was no glint of mischief in his eyes. It looked more like he was battling with his conscious. Harry had let it go then, although he had a pretty good idea what one of the possibilities he had planned was.

When there was about an hour until the start of the ball Harry decided that he should probably get into costume sooner rather than later and so he bid the others farewell. Ron had decided to go with him, Wesley had of course declined saying he still needed time to think. Ron didn't get it and insisted that he could help. Harry then pulled him away saying they didn't have enough time as it was to get ready let alone help someone else who wasn't even done yet. Wesley had given him a thank you look, and they had both hurried back to the common room.

Harry's costume as expected had taken almost no time for him to get on. He had changed from his robes into his oversized clothing. He looked in the mirror and decided he didn't look dilapidated enough, so he magically conjured dirt stains onto his face. When that was done he looked for Ron. Ron stepped out of the shower room where he had decided to get dressed in somewhat privacy. He was wearing a bright orange jumper and matching bandana. If he wasn't wearing that bright color then he would almost look like a muggle martial artist but the coloring made him in fact look ridiculous. Most people wouldn't notice however so when Ron asked him how cool his costume was Harry answered with smile and a friendly "wicked." Although he really thought it looked silly.

Ron of course had seen Harry in his clothing at the Dursleys' before so he didn't ask Harry about his costume except to ask what it was supposed to be. Harry answered "a street rat." Ron nodded and that was the last they talked of it.

Harry was actually surprised at many of the costumes, as they had only had a little over a week to prepare them. Dean was wearing an ornate black and red cape that looked rather spooky, instead of wearing fake fangs as a muggle would have it was very obvious that someone had transfigured his front teeth to make them pointier and slightly longer making him look like quite the vampire indeed. He topped the costume off with a very ornate looking muggle suit and a cane with a bat on the top of it. He smiled and raised an eyebrow at Harry as if to ask "you like?" Harry grinned back. He was impressed.

Hermione was dressed in a trench coat and fedora, obviously dressed as a private eye. It wasn't that that impressed him though. It was her attention to detail such as the pen in her ear, and the imprints of a notebook, a gun and a badge under the coat, hidden quite well actually, Harry wasn't sure if one would have noticed them had they not known what to look for. Dean and Harry both looked rather impressed at her costume. Most of the students had no idea what she was.

Parvati had pulled her hair into a braided ponytail and was wearing a pointed hat. She had on very little below that and Harry had no idea what she was supposed to be. She looked more like a promiscuous witch than anything else. Dean of course was just staring at her wide eyed, obvious incredibly happy with what he saw.

Harry wasn't exactly surprised at how the girls had dressed up Seamus, however he was impressed. He was wearing a bandana, an eye patch, very tattered looking off white pantaloons, a brown vest with nothing underneath it and a hook for a left hand. The pirate look fit him so well that it took Harry a second to realize that it was in fact Seamus and not a Seamus look alike who was actually a pirate. Of course the fact that there would never ever be a pirate in the school tipped the scale, but it was rather real looking.

It was Neville that had the best costume however, everyone agreed. It was so good that everyone had been surprised to see their headmaster walking down the stairs from their dorms. He had gotten everything right straight down to the twinkle in his eyes. Of course, Harry realized that Neville had always had a similar twinkle the few times he was happy. But it really showed now. Everyone spent at least ten minutes awing over it and it intricacies. The glasses, the robe and how perfectly silky it was. They even asked where he got such an effective fake beard. When Neville had said that he had gotten a benefactor to spell the beard on him, every one was even more impressed. In fact had the voice that came from the body not been Neville's, Harry was doubtful anyone would have known it was him. Just about the only physical difference was that Neville was slightly shorter and thicker than him, but one would have to be looking for that to notice it through everything else.

Last Wesley came down the stairs, and Harry smiled when he saw that he was playing himself, his real self, not the self that he showed to them everyday. While many of the other students congratulated him on how realistic his costume looked, asking him things like how far the makeup went and other things like that. Harry actually felt somewhat sorry for the boy again. For everyone else this was a time to get away form what they were and become whatever they wanted. For him it was the only time when he could simply be himself.

Lavender wasn't showing but by now all of Gryffindor house knew about the dare. Harry was not sure how but they had somehow managed to keep the secret to themselves and even though every Gryffindor knew about it even the first years, it seemed that almost no one outside of the house had a clue. No one wondered where she was because part of the plan was for her to show up fashionably late. And so the odd looking group of individuals started down towards the great hall.

On their way down they ran into Justin, Ernie and Susan. They could only recognize Justin because of his voice as he was dressed totally in silver. Harry wasn't sure what he was supposed to be, it looked to him to just be a totally silver bodysuit. It didn't even have any place on his face for eyes. When asked, Justin wouldn't say what he was and so it was yet another conundrum that he doubted anyone would figure out. Justin did make it clear that he could see completely fine when people started offering him hands.

Ernie on the other had was quite obviously dressed as Robin Hood. He was wearing a brown tunic and puce colored leggings which somehow didn't cause everyone to retch. What really totally gave it away however were the hat with a small raven feather and longbow strapped to his back. Harry was certain that many of the people here had no idea who he was but no one asked so it didn't really matter.

Susan was simply wearing a golden ballroom gown and tiara. When asked she said she couldn't think of anything else so she just chose to be a general damsel in distress. Hannah had thought that wouldn't be obvious enough and so suggested a princess instead.

When they asked where Hannah was they said she wasn't feeling too great and would be sitting this one out.

The sixth year Gryffindors and three Hufflepuffs entering the great hall wasn't as spectacular as one might have expected from the costumes as there were plenty of really impressive things. About the only thing that surprised people was the fact that the headmaster had not worn a costume and had come down with the Gryffindors. No one bothered correcting them.

Of course there was a rather impressive old hag who met the Gryffindor's gazes the twinkle in her eyes was obviously the headmaster's. She smiled her eyes twinkling even more at the sight of Neville's costume. Harry almost felt like he should have put more effort into his. There were all these impressive obviously magical costumes and all he had done was make himself look dirty and run down. _Oh well, a bit late to be thinking about that._

Not having anything else to do and not particularly wanting to dance, Harry decided to go sit down and look around and see if he could pick out what the professors were wearing and anyone else who he knew for that matter.

There was a giant Santa Clause there who was obviously Hagrid. Harry has no idea where he had gotten the idea or a costume in his size for that matter but he did. He even changed the color of his hair to white although how he had done it was unknown to Harry.

Professor McGonagall had out done herself this time with transfiguration skill beyond anything Harry had seen before. She had turned herself into a young woman and then dressed herself in the garb of a Muse. She carried a harp in her hand that played itself which wouldn't be all that impressive had the strings not been as fluid as water. She could obviously play it as well as every so often she would pluck a string which would somehow make noise despite being liquid as far as Harry could tell. The only reason Harry was certain this was his professor was the stern expression on her face. Even so it was obvious that she was having fun because every so often she would smile and when she caught him looking she winked his way. It was a wink that only his professor could give, stern but playful, the ultimate showing of the Gryffindor. People thought that Slytherins were the only ones who were tricky. It was obvious that whatever traits were put into Gryffindor often led to plenty of mischief. It was just generally playful instead of manipulative.

Leon was not dressed at all and in fact was obviously chaperoning the thing. Of course since he was blind it seemed a good idea since Harry knew for a fact that he could tell who all the students who he knew were regardless of what costume they were wearing.

Charlie was wearing a singlet which made him look quite the muggle wrestler with his scars and strong physique. Harry had no idea where he had gotten the singlet but he knew that with his father's obsession with muggles it would be impossible to not learn a bit about them. Although it seemed that then Weasley children had a much better grasp on muggles then their father, Harry still remembered the barrage of questions he had been asked by the man when they had met his second year. He still didn't know how to answer some of them as they made little sense. He seemed to recall one about the practical uses of hand puppets, and that was one of the more logical ones.

Harry was about to continue with his costume sighting when the door to the great hall opened and in came the most beautiful sight Harry had seen since the Quidditch world cup his fourth year. For it was Lavender who had made her fashionably late dramatic entrance, her costume the perfect rendition of a veela. After a few seconds of staring Harry came to his senses and looked around. With no exceptions, everyone in the room was staring at her. Nearly every boy was leering in her direction, and Harry could see why. Lavender was beautiful, totally beautiful and if he already didn't think of her as a good friend he would probably have never been able to pull his eyes away.

She walked over to where Roger Davies was dancing. Harry tensed up for a second when he realized that he was dancing with Cho, but she didn't seem to care and in fact seemed more impressed with the costume than anything else. Harry tensed up a bit more when Cho started walking in his direction and so missed the remainder of what was happening between Roger and Lavender.

"Hi Harry, I hope this isn't too awkward but I was hoping we could talk." Harry wasn't sure how to respond. He still remembered how they had left things off the previous year. But he couldn't think of a reason not to talk to her so he nodded. After all it's not like she asked to speak to him in private.

"I actually wanted to apologize…for everything. I was really distraught last year, about you know…Cedric…" She looked him in the eye carefully as she said this. Harry could tell she was feeling out his response. Harry couldn't honestly say he hadn't felt a ping of anger at the memory but he found that it was not directed at her in fact it didn't seem to be directed anywhere in particular and with nowhere to go it simply dissipated as he let it flow over and out of him as he had been doing since that first occlumency lesson.

"Yeah, I was too." Harry said, his tone making it clear that while it was still shaky ground that it wasn't unmentionable. Cho visibly relaxed the tense air between them finally broken.

"It wasn't just that though. I wanted to apologize for using you to get over him and for not even trying to see your point of view with the whole DA thing." Harry wasn't really certain what she was saying although it was obvious that there was more to it then this so he remained silent. The comment about using him to get over Cedric did hurt a little but he could understand the impulse though as he had been using everyone that entire year for that, as targets for his anger at Crouch, Dumbledore, Voldemort and of course himself.

"I was hoping that we could make up and you know…become friends. I want to rejoin the DA. I heard you were still running it? And I wanted to really get to know you, instead of the boy who lived and the boy who saw Cedric die. Oh and another thing. Remind me never to point out mistletoe to you again." She smirked, "It would have been much easier had we never had that first stupid kiss!"

Harry laughed at that comment, it was incredibly morbid and totally out of place. It wouldn't be funny to anyone else nor in any other situation but in this case it was. Harry was certain this would be an inside joke between them for ages to come.

Cho looked over to where Roger and Lavender were dancing. Although it looked to Harry a lot more like they were humping to the music than anything else. "Wow, I knew Lavender had planned on stealing him form me today but…wow. I am impressed."

Harry looked at her surprised. "You knew about this?"

"Yeah…wait you did?" Cho looked equally surprised. Then her surprise dissipated into understanding. "Oh yeah, Hermione would tell you wouldn't she?" Harry was still shocked.

"Truth be told, it was me who dared her to do this in the first place. Although I had to pull in some favors to get the message to her without her knowing I sent it." Cho smiled a not un-Gryffindor like smile. "I needed a laugh and so when Roger asked me for the like umpteenth time to go to the dance with him I said yes. Truth is I rather wanted to just go by myself. I have had enough of dates, as I am sure you will agree that I haven't exactly had the best of luck in that respect."

"Hmm…murder victim and then angry brat… Yeah I would say so." Harry said. He found that the morbid humor of the events of the previous years actually lightened the mood and the air between him and Cho seemed to be clearing quite nicely. Of course the fact that he had gotten over his crush on her was helping considerably. That and he realized that they had an important thing in common. They had both lost a good friend in Cedric. Harry had lost a partner and possible friend and she had lost her first love. It was something in common, morbid as it was, that allowed them to get on with their lives. Harry realized that had they gotten together on a more positive note the previous year that he may have been able to forgive himself for Cedric's death, or even if not at the very least have someone to share the pain he was feeling who felt similar pain.

Harry and Cho continued chatting. At some point Hermione and Ron came over and it looked like other than the fact that Ron was a bit miffed at Cho for how she had treated them the previous year, which was quickly dissipated by a very heartfelt apology from her that Harry thought was a bit overly dramatic. Then again now that he thought about it…she did seem to be the dramatic type, even if it wasn't really an act.

Of course as was the normal rule of anything Hogwarts related, as soon as everything settled down something had to come up to jostle it up again and unfortunately this dance was not going to end on a totally calm note. In fact for many people quite the opposite was true.

At some point during the conversation Hermione left and Ron and Cho had, to their surprise, found that they shared a love of everything quidditch. Harry wasn't that surprised actually after all she was a seeker. This of course ended up with him being a third wheel as he wasn't exactly in the mood to chat abut quidditch and that was fine as they didn't seem to care to include him and so he was again left to his musings.

Of course he let his mind wander, but before he could think of anything he intercepted a communiqué that was obviously mind speak. Realizing that it was from Seamus he decided to listen in after all…he was curious as to how he was doing and pretty much anything was more interesting than sitting there spacing out. He felt a bit guilty listening into the conversation whatever it was but in the end his curiosity won out and he decided to try and perfect his mental eavesdropping abilities.

"…yeah I know. It really sucks. So you're saying that Ernie knows?" Harry had a hunch what this was about after all he had intercepted the little note between Justin and Seamus during class. Of course this made him all the more curious, if nothing else it was certainly more interesting then the general relationship drama that traditionally happened at the school.

"Yeah he does. Actually I am quite jealous of you." Justin's voice rang out.

"You are?" Seamus sounded surprised.

"Yeah you had the guts to do what I couldn't."

Seamus laughed, Harry looked at him, but all he showed to the world was a slightly amused smile. "I didn't exactly choose to tell everyone it just kinda happened."

"Well. In any case I still wish I had the guts."

Seamus got a gleam in his eyes and Harry was certain he knew what he was going to do. Harry knew what this would lead too and he couldn't help but want to know what was going to happen. After all, he had been there for everything else. And frankly the year had been starting to run down. Surely something must have happened by now and if this was what was going to happen then so be it. At least it didn't have anything to do with Voldemort. "This IS a costume party and the next song is a slow dance…" The suggestion in his voice was rather obvious.

"You mean… No…" But of course Harry knew Justin well enough especially now after being in the Psionics and Potions class with him for two months to know that tone said totally the opposite.

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

Harry could imagine the mischievous smirk on Justin's face as he said this. "Yeah…I don't take enough risks! It's time I just said screw the gits and did something I wanted for a change."

It was then that Harry decided to stop eavesdropping as he would much rather watch the show. And what a show it was. Seamus and Justin simply walked over to the dance floor upon the starting of the next song, which was indeed a slow couples' tune and simply embraced and started dancing.

Harry watched in awe as the majority of the people in the room stopped what they were doing to stare at the newly formed couple. Even most of the other couples stopped dancing. Of the couples who were still dancing were Neville and his partner. Who was so well dressed that Harry still had no idea who it was and Ron and Hermione, who seemed totally oblivious to everything but each other.

The outcome was actually quite anti-dramatic. Justin and Seamus very quickly walked off the dance floor hand and hand, heading out of the great hall towards the courtyard. No one said anything while they were there and the only thing that followed them were whispers. Which were quickly quelled by the gaze's of any number of present Gryffindors and to Harry's surprise a fairly large number of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as well.

It was then that Harry realized that he had somehow managed to exhaust himself. Maybe mental eavesdropping took more effort than he thought? So he excused himself from Cho, who was still sitting next to him, and headed up to his dorm.

He was happy to find a dreamless night, and even happier to notice that he had not been the center of attention at all. It was a nice change one that Harry hoped would remain true in the future even though he seriously doubted it.

It was clear over the next few days not only that Justin and Seamus and hooked up. Funnily enough though, not much had come of it. This was possibly do to the fact that they seemed to have the backing of the entire DA, a group it was known was not to be trifled with. But it wasn't that that got truly got Harry wondering what was really going on again.

It began with him waking up really late at night with the incredible feeling that someone needed his help. He wasn't sure who or why. But he couldn't shake the feeling. And it was so strong that he couldn't get back to sleep then.

He thought he would just get up maybe read a little bit. Hopefully bore himself to sleep with school work. That usually worked on sleepless nights that were not caused by his frequent nightmares. But instead he found himself walking down to the common room, to the portrait and outside into the halls.

There he came to his senses the first thing coming to his ears being a whimpering noise. The whimpering noise was coming from a small boy who was sitting against the wall in a t-shirt and shorts, which were obviously night clothes. The obvious first year boy, for he could be no older than eleven unless he was really behind on his growth was sitting up against the wall with his knees hugged up to his chest. His head was between his legs and so all Harry could see was his short dark hair.

Harry walked up to the boy and said, "Are you ok?"

The boy was startled and lifted his head in surprise. However he didn't look at where the noise was coming from as Harry had expected he more just lifted his head in such a way where his ears were fully out in the air and then stopped. Harry instantly knew who this was, Devon Witter. "Harry?" The boy asked, obviously surprised and nervous at the same time.

Harry nodded but then realized that there was no way he would have known that so he responded with a "Yes." Devon's body relaxed at that but it was obvious that he wasn't totally sure what was going on.

"How did you get here?" Harry asked the next question to come to mind. He was pretty shocked and so was still rather playing the situation by ear.

"I have no idea. I woke up on cold stone and I didn't know what to do or where I was so I crawled to a wall and sat there. Only a few minutes later I heard you come." Harry wasn't sure why but he walked over and hoisted Devon into his arms. Devon responded by relaxing a lot and wrapping his feet around Harry's waist and his arms around his neck. Harry found himself holding the boy and wandering aimlessly around the halls near Gryffindor tower.

It occurred to him that he had no idea where the Ravenclaw common room was. He had been to the Slytherin one that time in his second year. Everyone knew where the Hufflepuff one was because it was right off of the great hall. The Gryffindor one was known by all at this point if for no other reason than because Harry himself was sorted into Gryffindor but the Ravenclaw one was the most elusive one. He knew it was in one of the towers but he didn't know which one. He knew that Gryffindor tower was one, that the astronomy tower was another and that Trelawny held residence in a third. However he could not be sure exactly how many towers there were and with the constantly moving floors he was unsure of whether he could find any tower he didn't already know of let alone the correct one.

He also thought to ask a member of the order at the very least if they had seen how he had gotten to the hallway outside the Gryffindor dorms but they seemed to be quite absent at the moment. In fact the entire castle had a lonely feel to it that made chills go down Harry's spine. The torches were not lit when they should have been. The order members that were out at night kept all the hallways lit. But now they were dark. The order members themselves seemed totally absent and Harry found that he was hoping to run into a teacher. He would even be happy if Snape made one of his appearances which he always seemed to do whenever Harry was out of bed after curfew. But it appeared that even he was sound asleep, or at the very least not here.

The entire situation was rather ominous and so rather than search the castle aimlessly for a random tower which he had no idea where it was he thought it was better to take Devon back to the Gryffindor common room where at least he knew it was safe.

The thought of asking Devon where his common room was did occur to Harry. But he realized that if he had any idea where it was in relation to where they were that he would have likely tried to make his way back there. Harry was certain that he would have difficulty finding his way back to his dorm if he found himself in some unknown corridor in the castle even being able to see, so he was fairly certain that Devon likely had no idea which direction to even start to go in.

When they reached the common room, which was empty, Harry felt a lot safer. There was something totally wrong about this entire picture and he really wanted to know what it was. He knew now that he had gotten the urge to get up and go outside and that he had found Devon exactly where he was told to go. Not only that but Devon had somehow gotten there without waking up or being seen by an order member or staff. Of course the fact that the hallways seemed deserted when they were supposed to be swarming with adults didn't stay well with him either.

"Harry…thank you for finding me." Devon said into his ear softly. "This really would have been a disaster had you not come when you did. I was totally lost."

Harry wasn't certain that the night was over or that it wasn't a disaster. But it was clear to him that regardless of what happened he was not to let any harm come to Devon. He didn't know why he knew this, it seemed almost liked it came to him in a dream but he couldn't place a particular one. But it was obvious that he was.

Harry stood very still ready to be put to whatever test he was being put though as he was certain this was some sort of test. He was suddenly quite aware that he did not have his wand. He heard a howl and then he realized in his horror that a full moon was gleaming in the window, silhouetted by the shape of the wolf that standing on its sill…

Afterthoughts

Ok, I would apologize to you guys for this delay but I won't because I am in a bad mood and feel like I have been gypped on my reviews. You know not one of you bothered me on the review board for an update and only a few of you bothered me about it at all?

Ok now that I have pointlessly taken out my horrible week on the lot of you (lets just say I ended up with a broken foot the week before I was going off to school and leave it at that). I have some things to tell you.

I am going off to Santa Cruz for college. If you don't know what that is then it doesn't really matter but what does matter is that I will not have as much time for writing but will likely have more willpower to do it. So I don't know whether to expect longer chapters or more frequent ones but know that there will likely be a change in my posting pattern, hopefully for the better.

To all of you who reviewed I will respond individually later as I am tired enough as it is. For now just keep reviewing please and comment on what you think. After all, as long as you explain yourself I'll even take your rants and raves about how horrible my story is and try to use the info to make it better. I don't care whether my feedback is positive or negative as long as it is explained so I know it comes from someone whoa actually thought about it.

Hope you like this chapter. Oh and sorry for the cliffie. Doesn't beat you yet theKnowItAll but I am getting closer. That and next chapter you are getting your blood and a possible new werewolf.

Nightlit


	19. Fangs, Claws, Brooms and Balls

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 19: Fangs, Claws, Brooms and Balls

The full moon shone on the silhouette of the lupine figure, its gleaming claws the only thing that showed it was more than a shadow. Harry dove behind a couch, Devon still clutched in his arms breathing and now shivering heavily.

Harry could hear heavy breathing coming form the direction of the window, each breath seemed to constrict his breathing more than the last.

A small speck of dust flew slowly across Harry's field of vision, a cricket chirped once, a single breath was taken by the boy in his arms, his heart beat once, the boy's beat barely after. A single step wrung though the floor as a single tick of the second hand resounded the room. The speck of dust disappeared as the cricket's next chirp echoed on his eardrum.

Harry was acutely aware of each step as he tired to figure a way out of this hopeless situation. Each resonating step, tick of the clock, chirp of the cricket, even each beat of his and Devon's hearts moments lost between them and catastrophe.

The breathing got closer and louder with each foot landing until it seemed to Harry that it was blasting his eardrums. Devon had shoved his head deep into Harry's embrace, his left hand shoved into the ear that was not intensely pressed against Harry's chest.

Harry had the intense urge to look and see where their assailant was, the only thing keeping him from doing so being the boy clutched in his arms whose fear was washing through him. Harry was glad he had been working so much with emotion as he would certainly be paralyzed with fright as he imagined Devon was right now had he not been. Harry had no idea how aware the boy was of the situation but it was obvious that he was alert enough to be terrified.

The couch suddenly lurched and disappeared leaving gleaming red eyes in its place. But what terrified Harry more than that or the wolf form only a few feet form his face was the Dark Mark clearly visible on its forearm. The mark's magic obviously powerful enough to resist even the curse of lycanthropy.

A low but quick growl came from deep within the beast which snapped Harry out of his trance. He jumped away from the beast, its hands busy still holding the couch, the awkwardness of its position allowing Harry to just escape its dreaded jaws. He ran to the portrait hoping that something would go his way, but the door remained steadfastly shut.

Harry turned to see the red eyes again and then ducked and ran under its spread arms just in time to avoid the snap of its teeth. Harry soon realized that he had no where to go and in his panic to stop before hitting the far wall, he got his feet tangled in the rug and fell to the floor. He managed to keep himself from crushing Devon but in the process they were both tangled helplessly in the rug they had just fallen in.

The next thing Harry knew was the immense pain of a sharp object he could only hope was a not a tooth going through his abdomen, just inches from impaling the both of them. He began to fade out of consciousness and the last thing he remembered before he passed out was an unnerving familiar feeling of pulling on his stomach…

Harry woke up very abruptly completely aware of what had just happened almost as if it was a dream. He would have thought that it was a dream as well if it weren't for the immense pain in his abdomen area. He was surprised that he was so alert considering the amount of blood he should have lost. Devon was still clutched in his arms although the boy himself had let go and was now soundly sleeping, his calm even breathing very soothing to Harry's otherwise hyper alert state.

He held the boy tight and looked across the room to where a now naked male form was sitting, his head between his knees in his hands, his knees pulled up to his chest much like how Devon had been whimpering.

It was then that Harry recognized the thick muscle and the short dark hair. He had seen this body many times in the changing room before and after practice and games. He didn't know how but he somehow knew that he was also the werewolf that had just attacked them. He felt a surge of anger so strong that he just dropped Devon on the floor where he was and rushed over to the man he knew as Oliver Wood.

"Oliver how could you!" He yelled at him, all that he could think of was the dark mark on the wolf's arm. Oliver looked at him, guilt obvious on his face. Harry grabbed the large muscular arm which was surprisingly devoid of scars and looked at it. Sure enough there plain to be seen was the dark mark. The guilt on Oliver's face turned to terror as he realized that Harry was referring to. Harry didn't care though, he didn't care that this man had been his captain and friend for the better part of three years. Or that he could easily overpower him if he bothered trying. No Harry wanted nothing more than to kill this man who had committed the ultimate betrayal!

It was only Devon's cry of his name that snapped him out of it. His anger disappeared all at once at the terrified cry of the boy and Harry dropped Oliver and rushed over and pulled the sprawled boy into a hug. His adrenaline gone he felt the wound again and quickly fell into a stupor quickly falling out of consciousness…

This time he woke up surrounded in a familiar softness that he instinctually knew was the hospital wing. He was strangely aware that there were people around him. Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Remus and Professor McGonagall were all standing by his bed. Poppy Pomfrey was walking back and forth between him and two other beds, although she seemed to be looking over him more than the other two. There was another man there, a blond man who Harry didn't recognize, but he was standing by another bed and so wasn't as prevalent to Harry as the others were.

Poppy was the first to speak, "You are very lucky Mr. Potter, although that is not news to me." She spoke to him but addressed the group as a whole. Remus looked particularly pale with anticipation. "Your wounds were apparently caused by claws and not teeth as I did all the standard tests for lycanthropy and some much less standard ones and you seem to be fine." Harry was not exactly surprised by this but the others, especially Remus let out great sighs of relief.

Dumbledore spoke next. "How much do you remember?" He asked, the twinkle in his eye noticeably absent.

Harry remembered the entire event in great detail, and quickly restated it. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. It still had a very dreamlike quality to it and yet he knew on some level that it was not a dream. And he remembered it more clearly than he had ever remembered a dream before, even one about Voldemort.

Hermione and Ron both let out shocked breaths at the mention of Oliver. The adults didn't seem surprised at all. It was then that the blond man walked over to them. Dumbledore quickly sent Ron and Hermione away, Hermione protested but Dumbledore was adamant. He then asked Poppy to give them some privacy. They all knew that tone and so she left, but not without her usual muttering about how these meetings really should be done somewhere else besides the hospital wing and about patients, even fully healed ones needing more time to recuperate.

In the end it was Harry himself, Remus, Dumbledore, McGonagall, the blond man and the two other people in the beds. Whom Harry assumed were Oliver and Devon. Oliver was confirmed at least when he stood up, wearing a hospital gown much like Harry was looking relieved but very wary.

It was McGonagall that ultimately broke the silence and addressed him. "And I suppose you have a good explanation of this Mr. Wood?" She said in her no nonsense tone. She then grabbed his arm from where he had been covering it and turned it over, where exactly as Harry remembered it, the dark mark appeared for all to see. Remus looked totally shocked, McGonagall angry. Dumbledore did not show any cognition whatsoever except a small short stare into his eyes.

Oliver looked terrified now, but he spoke anyway, his voice cracking every so often. "I… I don't know, I… I…"

The blond man spoke next, and Oliver looked relieved. "I think I can explain as well as anyone. Although neither of us is exactly sure what happened."

McGonagall spoke to him sternly. "You would be Thaddeus Killian then, the star chaser?"

The man nodded and then continued, "We were on our way back from a game on a route which took us decently close to dangerous territory where Death Eaters had been spotted. We were already late and despite our protests they sent us that direction anyway. Well, me and Oliver realized we were near a town and decided to go get a drink. The others were not interested and declined. Unfortunately while we were gone death eaters attacked the team. Two of us were muggleborn. No one survived the attack and by the time we got back it was already over and done with. The only clue we had was the Dark Mark in the sky above the corpses and destroyed equipment." Thaddeus than moved to sit down on the chair next to Harry's bed wearily before continuing, "After that we both walked back to the city and went to an Inn. Thanks to well planning we kept a large amount of muggle money with us in case we ever needed to stay in a muggle city or something. Then we both almost turned on each other. Both of us accused the other of orchestrating the attack nearly simultaneously. Both of us then showed each other out forearms, neither had a dark mark, at least not that evening."

"When I woke up the next morning Oliver was crying in the bathroom. I looked in and saw him holding his arm. There, where just the night before there had been nothing was the dark mark. My initial reaction was to think he had hid it somehow, that he had tried to deceive me. But then he turned towards me and said, 'Not again, why me?' And I knew that he was just as befuddled about it as I was." Oliver simply nodded at this and shivered, his eyes darting back and forth scared, but hopeful.

Dumbledore finally spoke, "I take it then that he was bitten before this than?"

Oliver nodded and Thaddeus began speaking again. "Yes he was. It was three full moons ago sometime in mid or late summer. We were flying over a forest when a volley of curses knocked us off of our broomsticks. We would likely have brushed it off as simply some fans of a different team getting too rowdy and I still think that is as likely an explanation as any as the curses themselves were not particularly dangerous. What was dangerous was that whether purposely or not we were directly above a small pack of three or four werewolves at time. We had no idea of this as we hadn't intended to land for another hour or so and it was at our destination city as well. To make a long story short Oliver jumped between us and the wolves and gave us all time to fly off. It had looked to us that we had escaped unscathed, but upon further examination Oliver had a cut on his leg where something grazed him. It was obviously either a claw cut or a tooth cut but it was not deep enough for us to tell. So we decided not to tell anyone except for the other team members. We knew that if it was a bite mark and it ever got out Oliver's life would be ruined, even though he had been bitten trying saving the rest of us. He would go down so the team wouldn't, so all of us prayed that it was a claw and not a tooth that had made the scratch.

"Alas that was not to be, actually we had all but forgotten about it by the next full moon. It was a stroke of luck, there was a werewolf scare in the daily prophet the night before the full moon or I likely wouldn't be here right now. We remembered then about Oliver's cut and put him in the cage we had bought and forgot about exactly for that purpose.

"We all watched it, I tried to break away, and I assume others did as well but we couldn't. It was all too morbidly fascinating. We watched him rage all night, his clothing gone, destroyed within minutes. When he turned back into just Oliver again, he was whimpering and then he started crying. We had never seen him so much as whimper let alone cry, so we knew it was bad. He said it was the most painful thing he had ever experienced. We were all quidditch players. Pain was part of the job. Oliver had never even really reacted to pain before. Yet there he was, crying like a small child." Thaddeus put his head in his hands as he said this, the memory obviously a painful one. "All we could do was keep his secret safe. And we did, at least until now.

"Oh and I have no idea how we got here, we simply walked semi randomly and ended up in Hogsmeade the night of the full moon. Oliver had recognized the place and almost went hysterical trying to find a place to keep himself from hurting anyone. We thought we had found such a place. I was standing guard, but I fell asleep. He was gone when I woke up and I imagine you know the rest of the story. I guess I was lucky I wasn't hurt during his escape. The thought did occur to me at the time that I could have fared much worse."

"Where did you go?" Dumbledore asked.

"It was a cave on the outskirts of the forest by the castle. The entrance to that particular part of the cave was a rather tight fit. Werewolves, or at least Oliver as a werewolf grows noticeably bigger and it looked to both of us that while he could just squeeze through, his wolf form wouldn't be able to get out. Obviously we were wrong." Oliver was still silent, his face obviously ashen with guilt.

_Caves by the forest… Those must have been the caves Sirius was hiding in fourth year!_ Harry mused for a bit, listening to what was being said.

"That is a rather unbelievable turn of events." Dumbledore said, Oliver's face went even whiter then it was and Thaddeus walked up in front of him protectively. Dumbledore's face stayed even. "However I have learned that the most unbelievable stories are often the most reliable ones." Oliver's face got some color back. Dumbledore continued, "Still I cannot safely take your word without some form of confirmation. Minerva, will you fetch Professor Snape and Professor Saren please?" McGonagall nodded with her usual poise and quickly left the room.

"Now, I have called for our best potions master and legillimencer. I trust that you have no problem with a little assessment? To confirm your story of course…" Oliver and Thaddeus both nodded their assent with no hesitation.

Thaddeus spoke next and what he said surprised Harry. "I trust that you will be using veritaserum right? I don't usually like the stuff but I think it is much too important that you believe our story for that to not be considered." Dumbledore's eyes seemed to shine slightly at the note, other than that his demeanor remained unchanged. Oliver nodded his agreement.

Harry got tired of laying there and so while the adults were busy staring at each other he decided to see who the last patient who was possibly hearing all of this was so he stood up. If any of the adults noticed this they didn't seem to care and so he simply walked over to the bed which had a curtain between his bed and it. Harry was not surprised to see Devon Witter there, and he was quite happy to see that the boy was obviously asleep. His eyes were closed and his breathing was deep and incredibly regular. He noticed that the boy slept silently and unmoving.

A few minutes later McGonagall led Leon and Snape into the room. Harry noticed to his satisfaction that there was a slight pause as the door shut that none of the adults seemed to see. _I wonder who that could be?_ He thought, knowing full well that any of his dorm mates would not only know where his invisibility cloak was but also want to know what was going on. He only hoped that Moody wasn't nearby as he was certain this was nothing Dumbledore wanted any student to hear. In fact Harry was surprised that he hadn't been stunned or sedated, but as he was not particularly fond of either he decided to remain quiet about it. Oliver was obviously surprised by Leon, as he stared at the blindfolded man. Thaddeus seemed to be surprised at both of them as his gaze kept shifting between them like a child might look at animals fighting, trying to get good looks at both things while not being able to decide what merits looking first.

Harry simply laid down on the bed again, intent on listening to what was going on. Remus came up and sat next to him. Harry noticed that he was intently staring at a random corner of the room with a smile on his face. Harry smirked inwardly. Remus always had been the biggest supporter of giving the students more information, and now he had the perfect chance to be the adult about something and he was totally looking the other way. Harry supposed that since he was no longer a professor here he essentially had no reason to stop them, that and he was a marauder, so he must also be wondering just how far they could get and not get caught. It did show that someone besides him had noticed the door. Harry found it hard to believe that any of the professors here had not noticed it. Snape, Leon, McGonagall and Dumbledore were the most perceptive professors short of possibly Madam Hooch.

Dumbledore had Oliver and Thaddeus sit in chairs that he conjured. He conjured three more chairs for Snape, Leon, and himself. McGonagall had already conjured her own chair and Remus and Harry were on his bed. The other in the room, whom only Harry and Remus had apparently noticed, remained as such.

Leon spoke as soon as he was sitting in his chair. "First things first, the entire account of what happened. Not using any magic at all." He said in a clear tone.

"Why? I though the whole point of this was to make sure we didn't lie to you?" Thaddeus asked in a quite confused tone.

"And how may I ask can we judge whether you are lying if we do not know what your story is in the first place Mr. Killian?" Snape looked at him evenly as he said this. It was greatly apparent that Thaddeus was rather unnerved, likely by the fact that Snape had referred to him not only by name, but by surname, when they had not been properly introduced or introduced at all as far as Harry could tell.

Thaddeus didn't seem to have a response, and just sat there with a slightly shocked expression on his face for a few minutes before responding. "I'm sorry. I'm just surprised you trust us enough to even bother getting our story without the magic give the circumstances."

Leon responded next, "Trust has nothing to do with this actually. It is very easy for one with the correct training to state deceptive half truths, possibly outright lies, even under the influence of something as strong as veritaserum. While an incredibly unlikely turn of events it is something that we cannot ignore. Hearing your story with your minds clear will not only give us something to compare your other story to but also a way to gauge your mental responses and whether they change or not while you are under the influence of outside effects." Harry was surprised, he had never seen his professor look or speak so harshly before.

Snape concurred, simply saying, "Indeed." Dumbledore said nothing.

So Thaddeus restated his story again. Although this time Oliver found his voice and interjected his own views of things here and there. Leon, Snape and Dumbledore were obviously listening and concentrating intently on them. Harry picked up on some mind speak and quite a bit of mental activity but unlike the students who wore their thoughts, especially their mind spoken thoughts on their foreheads for anyone who knew how to see, the three professors were very adept at keeping them private. So even though Harry could definitely tell that they were communicating mentally he didn't have a clue what they were saying.

Upon the completion of Thaddeus' and Oliver's story, they wasted no time giving them the veritaserum and then having them sit down and tell their stories again. But this time they had them tell their stories separately and kept drilling the two men on the specifics. It turned out that their stories were not only nearly identical. But that it was also nearly identical to the story Thaddeus had spoken of before. The only things new about it were fine details that one would not likely be expected to remember of one's own accord. There was one interesting thing that came out of this though.

"While it appears that they are both telling the truth. I noticed that there is a memory charm on Thaddeus that is not on Oliver." Leon said after they were done grilling the two but before they removed the enchantments.

Snape responded, "Yes, I noticed that as well. But it unless Oliver is the best occlumens I have ever encountered there is no way he could have cast it. Not only was it too intricate to be a simple _obliviate_. But there was no mention of the spell at all in Oliver's own accord of events." Dumbledore, as usual in such situations, remained silently listening.

"Well…I think we should double check this, although Severus does have a point that unless he is the best occlumens any of us have encountered he could not have hidden that part of the story from all three of us. One of us should have caught something." Leon looked towards Dumbledore for a response.

"I certainly agree with both of you. But the problem remains that we do not know what kind of mental training Mr. Wood has had during his foray away from school. And while it may seem rather unlikely, I think we should treat it as though it were possible. After all is it any more unlikely then this story that they expect us to believe?"

"No, it is not." Snape responded evenly. "And as much as I trust veritaserum, my potions making abilities, and our mental prowess I know that nothing is foolproof." He glanced at Harry for a split second. "People have a way of surprising even those like myself and I for one do not think this is a time where we can afford any surprises." Dumbledore nodded.

Leon seemed to think for a second before hesitantly making a suggestion. "There is a way we can at least be more sure that they are telling the truth if in fact they are. Imperius…" Harry's eyes widened at his professors suggestion.

Snape and Dumbledore looked at him with expressions of intense thought. Harry knew that Leon wouldn't see them but if they were not occluding him too much then he would be able to sense this. "Actually headmaster, as much as I dislike that particular curse I think it may be our only viable option." Snape finally said with much disdain.

Dumbledore looked at both of his colleagues. "Yes, I know neither of you would consider this without much thought. I also have to unfortunately agree that as much as it is obvious that no one in this room would like to see this happen, that this is the only way that we can be any surer of the truth than we are. And it is obvious that as it stands we are not sure of it at all." The expressions in the room were all grave at this point. But no one made any complaint. Harry found interestingly that he did not trust Dumbledore with the imperius curse, he had seen to many examples of the man manipulating this subtly for him to. He in fact trusted Dumbledore with it less than Snape, and he wasn't exactly sure what he thought of the man in this case. He found oddly that while he didn't exactly trust him with such a powerfully manipulative curse he didn't distrust him with it either, at least not nearly in the same category as with the headmaster. Snape was shrewd, intelligent and somewhat hidden. But he wasn't manipulative in the same way. Harry then wondered whether the hat really made any sense at all with its choices. As described by the hat it seemed to him that Albus Dumbledore should have been Slytherin and Severus Snape should have been Gryffindor. Snape had never once shown a lack of a backbone and Dumbledore had on many occasions showed his ability and more important willingness to alter events from behind the scenes. _The last year really changed me as much as it changed my friends. I was never this analytically perceptive before. Maybe Hermione is rubbing of on me?_

Harry totally trusted Leon not to overstep his bounds or let anyone else do the same. He seemed to have a very good grasp on what was safe and what was not when dealing with the mind. Something he had never seen either of the other two men exemplify. This was the reason he didn't say anything. It had even been Leon's suggestion. Whether he was lying or not, Harry still couldn't conceive of Oliver as anything but a friend and so the notion that anyone would manipulate him negatively in any way irked him.

"Leon, if you will please?" Dumbledore said.

Leon turned to face Oliver and then pointed his wand and said, "_Imperius_." Harry had seen this curse in action before, had it cast on him in many occasions. But in none of the cases he saw did the person go into quite as apparent a trance as when Leon cast it. It was quite obvious that there was something abnormal about this person. Harry found it rather interesting. It wouldn't particularly be useful to send such a person out using the curse to control them in this case. It was obvious that Oliver was not himself.

The three men stared at him for a second before Dumbledore spoke. "Mr. Wood, do you know anything about the memory curse put on Mr. Killian?" Oliver didn't respond. Harry was surprised at this. That was a yes or no question wasn't it?

Leon nodded however and then said, "He is confused, I don't think he had any reason to suspect anything and the question totally caught him off guard."

Snape responded, "I get the same feeling. Mr. Wood, are we correct in our assumptions?" Oliver gave an obvious nod.

"Well then I suppose this is all we are going to get out of them isn't it?" Dumbledore said, the statement was phrased as a question but it was obviously rhetorical.

"Short of completely breaking down their thoughts one by one, yes that's it." Leon said. Snape nodded his assent. "And since none of us have the tools in question let alone the will to do such an invasive thing, I think that we have to take them at their word. After all, he affirmed their story while under imperius and veritaserum simultaneously. If all of us couldn't detect obfuscation under those circumstances than I suspect no one could. Harry should have been able to pick up something if it was there, and I will admit that in terms of invading other minds he is not nearly my best student." Leon sent knowing smirk in Harry's direction as he said this.

"Yes, we have put Mr. Wood through enough." Dumbledore said. Snape merely nodded his assent, although it looked obvious from his expression that it was impossible to put the Gryffindor through enough. Then again Harry was biased when trying to interpret Snape's views, so he couldn't be sure. _Wow, when did I get this contemplative?_ He smiled at himself. Whenever it happened it sure beat out the child controlled by his emotions that used to inhabit his space. _These psionics really seem to be helping. I wish I had known about them before I probably could have saved myself a lot of trouble._

It was then that the curse was lifted and the antidote to the potion administered. Oliver was quite relieved when Dumbledore informed them that he believed their story and that they could stay here as long as they needed. Harry noticed that he did not mention Thaddeus' memory charm at all, _I see he still likes keeping people in the dark of very important things that they should know._

At this point Pomfrey was let into the room and shooed all the professors out. Leon insisted he wanted to speak with Harry, and offered to escort him back to the common room. Remus wanted to stay as well and, at Harry's insistence that he did in fact want to speak with his two friends, Madam Pomfrey nodded her assent mumbling something like "He would probably find a way to get out of here tonight anyway…" to herself. She would allow now others however and Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall quickly left the room, knowing full well that the nurse was not to be questioned when in her own ward.

As soon as everyone had left Leon faced the corner and said. "You can come out now Mr. Creevy." Colin slowly removed Harry's invisibility cloak, his face ashen. He was caught and he obviously knew it. Harry noticed that he didn't seem to have his camera with him. This seemed odd to him. Then it clicked.

"You're ok!" Harry almost yelled before receiving a hush from madam Pomfrey, who seemed to be totally ignoring that there was a boy who had sneaked into her ward. Colin smiled and nodded in Harry's direction. The smile was lost though when he looked back at Leon and Remus. However it quickly came back as Harry noticed that both men were smiling mischievously.

"You're welcome." Leon said, "I took the liberty of obscuring your mental pattern so that the others wouldn't notice you. I always thought that Albus was a bit too secretive." He said.

Remus on the other hand seemed to be staring at his chest. "That is a really good disillusionment charm. Who cast it?" It was then that Harry noticed the very slight blur in the shape of a camera that was hanging in front of Colin, presumably by an also disillusioned band around his neck.

"Hermione did." He said, "Pretty much all the Gryffindors heard the commotion in the common room but none of us could get out of our rooms. So we all got together because we wanted to know what happened. I don't exactly know how we knew that it was going to happen right now. Dean just seemed to know and everyone believed him. I was just the natural choice because I'm small and could capture what was going on for everyone else."

Remus smiled, "Sounds a lot like a group of people I knew." He beamed at Colin happily.

Leon smirked, "Come on, I think we should get going before someone gets suspicious. Besides I haven't been able to get anything mentally by Dumbledore in months. I believe that would make us three to two my lead." He said, his smirk broadening mischievously.

Harry thought they were both acting rather childish but was happy that they were none the less. He would have done the same thing. He totally agreed that Dumbledore was way too secretive about everything.

With that they walked towards the Gryffindor common room.

In the common room everyone was waiting. What happened next made Harry respect Colin a lot more than he ever had before. Colin disappeared into the floo to a darkroom somewhere. Harry didn't even know the castle had a darkroom. When he came back he had developed the entire roll of film into wizarding photos. But it had only taken about ten minutes. Harry knew that developing muggle photographs took significantly longer. He figured that developing wizarding photos wouldn't take as long but since it was done with a potion. Still Harry assumed that the sheer number of photos would be a feat to complete in a mere ten minutes (there were at least thirty photos).

The photos themselves were also quite impressive in that they were different than regular wizarding photos. Instead of animating the images into characters with similar personalities to the real people, each photo was playing the entire event continuously as if it were a movie.

When asked where how he did this Colin answered that Hermione had helped him change the potion. Hermione responded that Colin had done the majority of the work and that she really had only helped him pick out the ingredients. Apparently Colin was almost the top of his class in potions, and certainly the best fifth year Gryffindor at the subject. Harry never would have guessed. Although he suspected now that he thought about it that Snape would have complained about him more to the other Gryffindors do to his exuberance were that not the case. That and he surmised that any photographer let alone a wizarding photographer would need to be at least competent in potions.

Colin gave all of the sixth year and seventh year Gryffindors each photos and then handed out the rest to lower years on a first come first serve basis until he ran out, keeping one for himself. He said he would make more copies if anyone wanted one. Hermione suggested that they keep this to students only as much as possible.

Later Hermione told Harry that she, Dean and Colin were starting a sort of underground student information network. She had already included Justin and Ernie for Hufflepuff and Padma and Terry for Ravenclaw. Blaise was their sole confidant in Slytherin, but she said that was more so he would get the information than because they expected him to spread it around there. Her reasoning was that too many things had happened to students that they had no idea was coming because of information being hidden from them. She brought up the petrifications in their second year and Cedric's deaths as examples, both of which earned a moment of silence. She said that if they weren't going to be given the information that they were going to gather it themselves!

Harry felt quite relieved hearing this from Hermione and not from someone else. He was certain that she would go through every possible safeguard so that only the truth would be spread around. Not some distorted gossip laden version.

Harry noticed Dennis seemed a lot less uptight, Colin was so exuberant that it was difficult to think of the image of him as unconscious as real. Harry slept well that night despite the strangeness of the day.

It was that time again, quidditch time. It had been an exciting few days since Oliver and Thaddeus had shown up, as both of them were quite famous quidditch players. The fact that the first game of the season was coming up was also not lost on everybody. Oliver and Thaddeus decided to give into the pressure and help preside over the first game. Blaise was also excited do to his new position as the announcer.

So here it was, a cold November morning. And everybody was on the pitch wearing anywhere between three and four layers. Except the Ravenclaw and Slytherin players of course who were all shivering in their robes obviously waiting anxiously for the game to start.

Harry was sitting next to Wesley and Ron. Hermione was opposite Ron next to Wesley. Behind them were Seamus and Neville. Fred and George were flanking Hermione and Ron. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Wesley were in the front row right at the edge of the stands. Harry, Hermione and Ron had the omnoculars they had gotten at the quidditch world cup. Wesley was excited. He had never seen a real quidditch game played before.

Oliver and Thaddeus flew around the itch earning quite a few "oohs" and "ahs" and then the two teams took the field. Blaise started commenting, "And now taking the field are those green robed, sneaky, underhanded Slytherins who will do anything to win…" Harry was surprised…did he just hear Blaise say that? "Their captain is none other than, you guessed it! Draco Malfoy…" Blaise' voice fell into a sigh as he said the name. Obviously he wasn't at all thrilled at this notion. Malfoy gave him a look that said "say that again and you won't be able to announce anymore." Harry couldn't tell if Blaise responded.

Blaise continued, "And now the brianiacs with the skills to match! The Ravenclaws! And their captain seventh year, and single by the way, Roger Davies!" Harry just about laughed as McGonagall slapped her forehead. This was surprisingly familiar. Malfoy and Davies went up to shake hands, which Davies came away from shaking his hand obviously none too happy.

Madam hooch then let the bludgers and the snitch go. "Now I want to see a clean game." Harry wasn't certain but he thought she glanced at Malfoy seriously as she said that. With that she through the quaffel, and Blaise started his commenting.

"It's Davies with the quaffle, to Patil, to Bradley, to… Ok, and it's the first foul of the game as Warrington hits Bradley from behind." Harry flinched as Bradley fell off his broom face first and nearly slammed head first into the ground as no one was near him at the time. As it was he was obviously hurt, but at the very least he had managed to land on his back. Now the Ravenclaws were down one Chaser as Bradley was sent to the hospital wing. Blaise continued again, "Davies takes the penalty shot and scores. But this does not look good for the Ravenclaws.

"Now it's Pucey with the quaffle, to Warrington, to Pucey, and Pucey is hit with a bludger, but Warrington saves the quaffle…only to be hit by another bludger…and another…and another…wow where are the Slytherin beaters? Oh, there they are… Well, it looks like Warrington is out…which means that the teams are even again." Blaise sounded bored. Harry had to admit that this looked a lot more like a Grudge match than a quidditch game. The Slytherins had started it, but apparently the Ravenclaws intended to finish it, their beaters going after one person at a time, and totally owning the field, Vincent and Gregory had no chance. They also didn't seem to be into the game. Harry recognized the body language…they both seemed annoyed at the behavior off the Slytherin team. The main difference between the Ravenclaws and the Slytherins seemed only to be that they weren't breaking the rules. And so were ahead purely on penalty shots. "Ooh…and Davies is out…cold. Patil is now on her own, but it looks like Pucey has a broken arm…and leg and wow! That's gotta sting. So it seems to be Patil against Nott…who interestingly enough seems to have totally ignored the rest of the Slytherins and played by the rules… Well that's Theo for ya, one of a few good men. Any way it looks like its Nott vs. Patil… What was that? I have never seen that before, and Malfoy collides with Patil who collides with Nott taking out the last chasers in the game. Well this is just silly. All six chasers are out and there hasn't been any sight of the snitch yet. It literally comes down to the seekers. There would be a penalty shot…but there is no chaser to take it. Apparently anyone on the field can take it though so Cho is going to make a shot. But she misses pitifully, oh well, stick to Seeking, your awesome as that."

And so there it was. Blaise eventually stopped commenting as it was apparent that they were going to be here for a while. Without the Chasers this was by far the stupidest quidditch game Harry had ever seen. The score was only 50 to 20, so whoever found the snitch won the game. Cho obviously had the advantage as Vincent and Gregory had just about given up on ever getting the bludgers away from the Ravenclaw beaters. Harry was impressed. The Ravenclaw beaters were incredibly skilled this year, much better than last. They were easily as coordinated as the Weasley twins had been.

The game never actually got to a real conclusion, as eventually the Ravenclaws succeeded in breaking not only Malfoy's arms, but one of his legs as well. He claimed cheating but of course nothing of the sort had happened. After about another 30 minutes with no sight of the snitch, Madam Hooch summoned it and declared Ravenclaw the winner. "And that ends one of the silliest games of quidditch I have ever seen. That reminded me of the game between the Tree-Skimmers and the Hammers where both team's seekers and reserve seekers managed to knock each other out and the game went on for nearly 3 days while they waited to recover, the Snitch hovering over the Hammer's scoring hoops for nearly the entire game." Blaise sounded incredibly bored and continued to list famous quidditch bloopers. Meanwhile Madam Hooch mentioned something about talking to the teams about backup members. Harry was happy that they had already taken that into account.

"I hope that wasn't a normal example of a game?" Wesley said with a skeptical expression on his face.

"Certainly not," Harry said. "That was the silliest game I have ever seen. Never before has every chaser been taken out of the game do to injury, at least not that I have seen." Harry sighed, the fact remained that the Rules of quidditch didn't seem to have any real solution to the problem of no players remaining. Not that there really needed to be one. But that game was rather ridiculous and rather than the usual elation that accompanied the end of a game the general feel of the school was that of annoyance at essentially wasting a perfectly good day.

Harry spent the remainder of the day sitting in the common room doing his homework. He had been studying a lot more lately than he used to, the importance of his NEWT classes dawning on him. This was mostly do to being let into Snape's class on a technicality, but he realized that doing well in his other NEWTs was important to landing a job. _And surviving the war with the dark lord… Although I don't see how an essay on animagi is going to help me do that, but the spells I'm learning are at least useful._

Harry was on his way to dinner when it happened. A set of arms reached out of an empty classroom and forcefully pulled him in. "_Expelliarmus_!" he heard and before he knew what was happening he was staring at the end of Theodore Nott's wand. Theodore looked down at his feet, guiltily Harry thought, before whispering, "_Avada Kedavra_…"

Afterthoughts

Sorry about another cliffhanger. I hope to not keep you all waiting another two months, but I can't control when my brain allows me to write as much as I'd like and a lot of that is in the reviews I get. So if you want to see chapters faster please give me substantial reviews. I mean I would prefer a "this story is cool" to no review at all, but I like getting commentary whether positive or negative (although I prefer positive to negative of course :) ) which is explained. I like to hear what you think and why. Thanks to the new reviewers.

Nightlit


	20. Theodore Nott

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one). 

Chapter 20: Theodore Nott

Harry flinched at the words, but nothing happened. Theodore said them again, still nothing. Harry was about to hit the boy, run out the door. But then Theodore grabbed him and pulled him to the desk at the other side of the room. Harry found he was surprisingly strong for his spindly frame. He yelled, but found himself silent.

Theodore forcefully sat him down on a chair and then sat on a chair facing him, staring him in the eyes. Harry saw something he hadn't been expecting, an internal battle was obviously happening as they sat there. Harry watched, for some reason he wasn't scared, if he was going to be killed he would be dead by now.

It was almost ten minutes before Theodore spoke. "I couldn't do it." Harry was certain he was referring to the death curse. Theodore may have been facing Harry, their eyes meeting directly but it was obvious that Theodore was seeing something totally different. His grey green eyes were glossed over, like he was totally lost in thought. "You know, I thought I could do it? I thought I could make myself hate you? Maybe just maybe I could make myself hate you just enough to do it. Then I could be put in Azkaban, or given the kiss. And then I wouldn't have to deal with this anymore." Theodore stood up, took his own wand and slammed it into the desk. It shattered in an explosion of multicolored sparks which quickly disappeared. Harry stared. He couldn't imagine why anyone would want to destroy his own wand. Theodore sat down, and then produced Harry's wand from his robes.

"Maybe I can do it with this? I feel power from this wand, power that I never felt from my own. Well, my sister's. She was killed you know, killed when she refused to join the Dark Lord. She went to Durmtrang. They gave me her wand saying that it was a legacy. That if she wasn't going to be the one to follow the family line she might as well not exist. That was last year. She was two years older than me." He absentmindedly pointed Harry's wand at him as he said this. "Now I wonder if I can do it. Bringing back Harry Potter's wand would be quite the prize…" He then pointed Harry's wand at him directly, Harry tried to get up but found he couldn't move. "_Avada__ Kedavra_!" he yelled more forcefully this time. Harry flinched, but again nothing happened. There was no green light, no sound of splitting air. "It figures…" He said. He then put Harry's wand down on the desk.

Harry was intrigued to say the least. Obviously Theodore had been sent to kill him. And obviously for some reason he hadn't been able to do it. Harry wouldn't have talked or moved had he been able to. He wanted Theodore to continue, wanted to hear what the obviously distressed boy had to say.

Theodore paced the room, stared at the walls, the ceiling, the floor, anything but Harry. He then went and picked up Harry's wand. He stared at it for a while and for a second Harry was worried he was going to smash it on the desk as he had done his own. But he waved it and said "_finite incantatem_" and Harry found he could move again, and speak as well. Theodore then handed Harry back his wand and then stood there, staring at him meekly. "Go ahead," he said, "do whatever you wan to me. Kill me, torture me, get your revenge on me for the things my dad has done to you." Harry was surprised at his conviction. There was a self hatred in his voice that made Harry's past self hatred seem trivial. Here was a boy that obviously thought he deserved whatever came to him. But Harry couldn't kill Theodore anymore than Theodore could kill him. He simply didn't hate the boy, he pitied him. It was obvious that he was pushed into it, obvious that he was not at all ok with what was happening. So he walked over to him.

Theodore flinched, obviously not expecting compassion, "Remember who killed your godfather! Remember what group represented that!" Harry was impressed, that had almost got him, almost made him hate the boy he was standing in front of. Had he not been working with his emotions for as long as he had it would have. But Harry saw this for what it was; an attempt to get him to do what Theodore was afraid to do. He wanted Harry to kill him. It was as simple as that.

"Theodore, you do not represent those people…"

Theodore brandished his arm, Harry stared. The dark mark was clearly visible right where it was supposed to be between his wrist and elbow. Harry had not expected a student to be allowed the dark mark. It was a wonder that he was allowed back into school at all bearing it. Harry then realized that he had not even really been aware that Theodore was at school until the quidditch game. He wondered whether it was just him being unnoticeable or if he was under some form of magic. Even so, regardless of why, it was clear that even with the mark, Theodore hardly represented the death eaters. Harry already knew one who bore the dark mark and did not represent Voldemort. While Harry still didn't particularly like the guy, he had proven himself plenty. Harry had simply refused to see that in previous years.

"Theo…"

It was then that the door bust open and a shocked voice yelled, "Harry get…" Harry looked over at the door as the voice abruptly stopped. There in the doorway, wand raised was George, with a profound look of confusion on his face. "What is going on here?" He asked.

Harry had to imagine it was an unexpected sight. Harry holding his wand casually while talking to a student who was obviously unarmed but who had the dark mark clearly visible on his forearm. Harry knew George wasn't stupid nor was he imperceptive. He would easily see that Harry had control of the situation. And that Theodore was not at all happy with what was going on.

"Theodore!" Blaise' voice followed George and he stared incredulously at the boy Harry was speaking with. Blaise looked hurt. Theodore quickly pulled his robe down covering the dark mark. The damage seemed to have been done however as Blaise rushed out of the room, Harry barely caught a nearly silent sob as he ran down the corridor towards the dungeon. Theodore seemed to pale more, and that was a feat as he was already so pale that Harry was certain he was white as snow.

George relaxed his wand hand and got an uncharacteristically guilty look on his face. Harry wasn't certain that guilt was even an emotion the Weasley twins had. He was obviously greatly mistaken. "This is all my fault. If only I had paid more attention!" Then he turned his wand on Theodore, a determination in his eyes and a beat red face. "You!" He said.

Harry jumped between them. Harry saw what was about to happened bright as day. George was going to do something that he was going to regret, and Theodore was going to jump right into it. Salvation and damnation, the only thing between the two was a small sixteen year old boy.

"Get out of my way!" George said, his face still beet red, determined rage still like fire in his eyes. Harry noticed something though, Georges eyes were not his own. There was something else there.

"Yes let him." Theodore said, Harry didn't know what but something was happening here that he alone seemed to be immune to. Or was he? He felt strange, he didn't know why he was so adamant about protecting someone who had tried to kill him and bore the dark mark. But he was willing to sacrifice his life or him. The fact that it would make George's attempt to protect him a moot point disappeared from his head. A bomb was about to go off. And it would have if Leon, Tonks and Wesley had not chosen that moment to enter the room.

Leon quickly subdued George while Tonks grabbed Theodore. Wesley grabbed Harry, although Harry proved too much for him and he broke his grasp, pointing his wand at Tonks and shouting "_Avada__ Ked_..." He never finished his statement. Wesley had hit him with a quick _silencio_, and Fred, who had just appeared hit him with a square _expelliarmus_.

It wasn't until Dumbledore entered the room in a flash of flame with Fawkes on his shoulder that the chaos stopped. Increasingly more dangerous spells were being cast and it looked for a moment that it would be the end for all of them. The headmaster spoke calmly and collectedly just as he always did. "Theodore, please come with me. I have some things to discuss with you." Dumbledore had in his own was issued a command and one did not go against his commands readily. Theodore complied and in a flash of fire they were gone.

Harry felt dazed. He wasn't quite sure what he had been thinking. He knew exactly what had just happened but there appeared to be no reason behind it. It simply was. Leon had a grave expression on his now chiseled, usually soft features. Harry was certain he knew what was going on. Tonks looked equally grave. George looked lost and even guiltier than he had before. He was looking at his hands, his wand forgotten on the floor. Harry then remembered what he had almost done. He had nearly cast the killing curse at Tonks, probably his favorite order member. He was certain that had Wesley and Fred not intervened that it would have worked. He was sure of it.

"I…" Harry and George said simultaneously.

Fred put his hand on George's shoulders. Wesley put a hand on Harry's; he then said, "What was this?"

Leon shuddered, "It is something that I prefer not to explain. I believe that the headmaster has it under control and I have no doubt that he will tell you when he thinks you are ready. I will not tell you before that in this case. But I will tell you that this is exactly what you have been training for. It is a dark time, very dark…" He then walked off towards the Dungeons, mumbling something to himself.

Harry knew that something very powerful and magical was up…

A basilisk bit at him followed by a werewolf's claw slash and a dragon's breath. Then staring at him from the mist was Devon. "Harry, you must find me, my disaster has just begun. I hold the key that you are looking for. It is the only thing I have ever seen. Getting me to realize it is the final truth."

Dennis then appeared next to him. "The key to that lies with me. Nothing is as it seems, but as it is." Dennis then disappeared.

Devon seemed to look into Harry's eyes despite his own eye's emptiness. "Do not turn to Hermione. She has her own part to play. This is a time of peril, the puzzle is being put together, the spell part of the foundation. The Heir's are nearing their completion. You will remember this, and you will remember that it has happened before but not anything else. Remember the song? That is for Hermione, tell her. Remember the moon? That is for Ron, tell him. The rest is for those who have picked each other. The spell that affected you is strong. It awakened something that cannot be put to sleep. Do take care. Gryffindor's main strength was also his biggest flaw. Take heed; do not follow the path of that man. He too, has lost himself… Take heed… Remember, find me. Make me remember the key, my only sight. Remember…"

With that Harry found himself waking in his bed, the only thing showing that the previous night was not a dream was the bruise forming on his arm where Theodore had grabbed him.

George wasn't taking any chances, since that day he had been following Harry around like a hawk. Harry was glad of it in a way, although now it actually felt like he had a bodyguard instead of just that he theoretically did. George never disallowed him to do something or even told him that he needed to be careful, but his silent presence was enough and Harry was as of yet not accustomed to a constant presence like that.

Harry, George and Blaise were down since the next day and everyone noticed. It wasn't long before the entire feel of the DA members was one of either morose curiosity or simply down right depression at the state of things. People really got that they were in danger, and they thought that was why they were depressed. Harry and George both knew why they were depressed because it was for the same reason. They were both scared of what they were capable of.

The next Saturday it all cumulated in what seemed to be a very morose event. Technically it was a Hoggsmeade day, but of course given the recent events it was cancelled to all but teachers and prefects. Ron and Hermione had offered to stay, but Harry had told them to go have fun. Hermione had grudgingly agreed only after Ron had told her that Harry obviously needed time alone. Despite not hanging out as much together, Ron seemed to understand Harry better than anyone else.

Of course Harry wasn't intending to be alone. He had had enough of that the previous year. No now he wanted to talk, with the one person who he was certain could explain what was going on, Theodore Nott.

Finding Theodore turned out to be much easier than Harry anticipated. The first reason was because they had the Marauder's Map and that had yet to lead them astray. The second reason was because George wanted to talk to him just as much as Harry did. They both had many unanswered questions. The reason George was integral to finding them was that he was in a secret passageway that Harry had no idea how to get into. It was on the map at least, but there was no clue as far as Harry could tell as to how one was supposed to open the passageway. All he knew was that both Blaise and Theodore were in there, obviously talking about something. Harry still had no idea how to open the passage. George had only said that it was made by older students for older students and required a certain amount of maturity to open. All Harry knew was that George faced towards a corner, fiddled with his robes a bit, and the door opened. George than fiddled with his robes again and then turned around and entered the passageway as if nothing had happened. Harry thought no further on this, he didn't want to know what the passages purpose was, only wanted to find the students inside of it.

Harry heard Blaise speaking first, around a corner from where he and George were standing, "But why? I thought we both agreed…"

Theodore sounded sad, "I couldn't…you…you were sent away but I was…I was…I couldn't do anything about it. They put the world on my shoulders, telling me things that I never wanted to know. They promised me a death of old age as my punishment for not joining. They said that despite what the Dark Lord believed that there were worse things than death and they were going to do all off them to me. Then they used it…if only they had use _cruciatus_. I could have handled that. But the curse they used on me still plagues me…it was a curse of nightmares. I saw them killing you…killing Harry…killing everybody. I couldn't handle it. I wasn't strong enough."

Harry listened silently from where they were standing. George remained silent too. The door to the passage closed slowly and rather silently as well. If Blaise or Theodore noticed their presence…they didn't mention it at all.

"I know…but still. I thought I had someone who understood me, someone who was like me. But you don't see me with a Dark M ark on my arm. I don't even know you anymore…" Blaise voice was harsh, probably more harsh than Harry thought Theodore deserved. He didn't know what had happened but he knew what nightmares of death were like. Could he honestly say that he would have done differently had he been threatened with them? That and that was the past, Harry knew better than anyone what it was like to hold grudges. He still held that grudges needed to be a thing of the past, especially for him. Theodore was heard crying.

Harry looked at George, and then motioned towards the door. George nodded and then walked up to the door, fiddled with his robes again and it opened. They both then left the room silently.

When they got back to their dorm, Harry realized that he was incredibly tired, despite his dream he was not at all rested and he figured he could use some sleep. _Pity I don't have dreamless sleep potion._ He thought before he nodded off, although that afternoon he hadn't needed it. He slept sounder than he had in weeks. In fact he wasn't woken until he heard a bustling from the stairway and the laughter of three boys he knew quite well.

Ron, Seamus and Wesley wandered into the room laughing. Following them was a smiling Neville and a nervously smiling Dean. "You mean there is only ONE ball?" Ron asked incredulously, although he was still laughing. Harry found this unsettling.

"Yeah, although I think it can get a bit more chaotic than Quidditch even with the extra balls." Wesley said.

"With only four people on a team and one ball?" Seamus exclaimed, "That I would love to see."

Wesley thought for a second. "Well, if we could get a hold of a standard mana television then we could watch a game. One of my old school games should be scheduled for today."

Dean stared at him, "But how could a television even work here let alone get a signal from the states."

George stepped out of his bed totally naked and said, "Because it's a mana television. Me and Fred were looking into them for expanding our jokes."

Dean covered his eyes nervously, "Please, put some pants on!" George rolled his eyes at Dean's squeamishness at his nudity. Seamus quickly gave him a once over. Harry had seen George in nearly every sort of dress, so he didn't think twice about it until Dean pointed it out.

"Oh would you stop it!" Harry said annoyed, "It's not like it's anything we haven't seen before. You'd think you were first years with the way you're acting!"

Ron was the first to respond, "Look who's bloody cranky this morning." As harsh as the words were, Ron's tone made it obvious that it was a joke. Harry didn't particularly care however. He was still incredibly tired and depressed from the events of the previous day. George didn't look all that happy either. His expression was incredibly sarcastic and it seemed he was rolling his eyes in annoyance as oppose to good fun. Harry wouldn't have been surprised had he remained naked merely to get the others to go away. It was very obvious that neither one of them was in the mood for much of anything.

George may have been too nice to yell at them to go away but Harry certainly wasn't. "Why don't you all get out of here!" Harry said with an obvious growl in his voice. The clamor stopped instantly, and there was silence.

"Um… Well…the thing is that…" Ron obviously had no idea how to respond to that. Harry knew that he must sound like he did last year but he didn't care. He was in a horrible mood and nothing was going to change that.

"Wesley was telling us about a game they play in America called 'Deflector Ball' and it sounds rather interesting." Seamus sounded guarded, and Harry figured he should after all it was obvious that he wanted to be left alone. Dean was shifting his feet from side to side actively looking away from George, Neville and Wesley just looked nervous.

George looked at them as if they were idiots, "Since you are obviously not going to go away may I suggest that you idiots think for a second? If you want a television that badly there is an easy way to get it!"

Harry squinted in their direction, wanting them all to leave and yet certain that they had intended to drag him off into whatever their little plan was to cheer him up. Unfortunately his friends were quite persistent if not annoying, and the chances of blowing them off after they resisted his initial outburst was slim to none. One of the more negative aspects of Gryffindors, they never get the subtle, or even blatant hints that you want them to leave you alone. Harry rethought that for a moment… _No…it's more like they just don't care._ He recognized that not so great trait in himself and it succeeded only in annoying him more.

Seamus slapped himself in the head, "WHAT were we thinking? DUH! The room of requirement!"

Wesley looked at him, "I have heard the DA members mention that room. What is it?" He asked.

Seamus responded, "It's a room that is well…whatever you want it to be."

Harry had not expected that to be the differing statement. But as soon as Seamus said that Harry remembered what it has given Ernie and himself and he thought, _Not exactly,_ and snickered silently to himself.

Seamus and Ron caught it but didn't say anything. Harry only knew they caught it because of their residual mental links from their psionics classes. They didn't show it at all. That was one thing that the psionics classes were doing for the three boys. Harry, Ron and Seamus used to wear their emotions on their foreheads. Now they hid them well and usually put up some facade emotion to protect what they really felt, at least when they needed to.

"Huh? Whatever you want it to be? You mean even changing size?" Wesley sounded quite intrigued at that notion.

"Yep." Ron said with a smile.

"Wow... That must have taken some charms and transfiguration mastery. This school is amazing. We didn't have nearly as much magical effects at N.Y.M.A. In fact I don't think that anyone would ever notice any difference between it and any other muggle academy." Wesley mused on that thought before saying. "Of course that's half of the point."

Seamus looked at them all before saying excitedly, "So let's go watch this 'Deflector Ball' then and see just how chaotic it is." He challenged Wesley with his eyes as if to say, "nothing could possibly be better and quidditch." Wesley returned it evenly with a playful smirk returning the challenge evenly. Harry was finding it more and more difficult to keep his unhappy demeanor with his friend's antics. That along with Seamus sending him happy emotions and Wesley's general trust was severely affecting him. He wanted to be annoyed but his dorm mate's sinister plan to sheer him up was having the desired effect. Ands there was nothing he could do about it. George seemed to be having even more difficulty than Harry keeping up the negative air, and had now started actively teasing Seamus and Dean, albeit for different reasons, with his nakedness. His frown becoming a smirk and then smile long before Harry's did. Dean was getting more and more annoyed with it all and Seamus was having a harder and harder time not looking.

"OH-KAY! George, get some clothes on before you give poor Dean an aneurism." Wesley said, but not without a gleam of amusement in his eyes. George only responded by turning his attentions at Wesley. Who just laughed and made threats of shrinking charms. George pouted at him but put his clothing on. Harry was rather amused by the whole thing.

After the shenanigans and cheering up, the group got themselves together and headed towards the room of requirement to watch this "Deflector Ball" that Wesley spoke so highly of.

Harry was surprised when they entered the room and what the room had given them was a standard couch and an old fashioned muggle television. Wesley started messing with it but Harry was still expecting something a bit grander.

"Got it!" Wesley said and then the entire room changed. Harry was deeply impressed by this "mana television" as he had been expecting something similar if not the same as a muggle T.V. Instead this seemed to be like something out of Star Trek. It changed the entire room into what looked very much like a stadium. The room appeared to be at least ten times larger than it was and they were standing in what appeared to be a walkway between rows of blue seats, each row about half a seat higher than the previous row in what was obviously a standard fashion. In the center of the room was a cube. That was all Harry could describe it as. The far side of the cube was white, the sides to the left and top of the cube were blue and the sides to the bottom and right of it were grey.

"Good the game hasn't started yet." Wesley said then he turned to the rest of the group. "If I have timed this correctly and I might not have since I don't quite know what the time difference is then the game should be starting in about half an hour, which is fine because I think that I should explain the rules to you or the game won't make all that much sense. Also, we can have an audience or not. Do any of you care whether we watch it alone?"

"I say alone, why bother with simulated people?" Dean said.

"Well they wouldn't be simulated they would be the actual audience in the stadium, except for the people where we sit of course. But I do think that it is easier to see and hear the game without the extra people as people can get extra rowdy." With that Wesley walked down the walkway to the edge of the center cube.

"While the game is held in this cube what we are watching is not the actual game. These walls are charmed to show us what is going on inside of the cube but the players in the game cannot see or hear what is going on in the audience. This is mainly so that no one can cheat but also serves to stop distractions fro disrupting the game. Now every so often the visualization will turn, it won't zoom in or out or slow down the game it will simply slowly turn to give us a different view of what is going on as the game is played in three dimensions." He turned around to face the curious group.

"The game itself is played between two teams of four players. There is one ball which is manipulated by and manipulates the players in question." Ron scoffed at this. "Well…now I am getting ahead of myself. It is a simple game really. Each team has a team color much like most professional sports, however in the case of deflector ball the color's are very important as they are not just to show each team member apart form the other team, the colors also determine scoring and the game rules.

"Before I get into the actual game play I should point out that there are strong anti gravity charms over the entire field, so to the player's there is no real down or up."

Seamus gawked at this, "You mean there is no gravity in there?"

Ron stared at him, "Gravity?" He asked confused.

Wesley looked at him oddly, Harry explained. "A muggle scientific term. It means the force that makes things fall."

Ron thought for a second, "You mean that nothing will fall in there…but without brooms how do they move around?"

Wesley smiled at this. "That is the main point of the game. And it is where the ball comes in. The ball starts out white. While it is white it can be intercepted by any player in the grid. The grid is the field by the way, and I have no idea why it is called that. Now this is where the color starts being important. Upon being intercepted by a player the ball becomes the player's team's color. At that point if it comes in contact with a member of the other team a blasting charm sends that team member flying in the direction that the ball hit them from. The ball is sent the opposite direction by a similar blasting charm and changes to the color of that team." He waited for a second before continuing. "You will notice that one set of walls is blue and the other is grey. That is because our school team color is blue. The other wall will be charmed to become the color of the visiting team. The last pair of opposite walls is always white. When the ball hits any wall it becomes the color of that wall, meaning that the ball is constantly shifting colors and thus shifting which team can touch it without being blasted away."

Seamus looked puzzled, "Ok, so it seems rather chaotic. How does scoring work?"

"Well that is the really interesting part. There aren't points like there are on most other sports. Instead the goal of the game is to launch the opposing team members into the white wall. Doing that turns their uniform white and makes them work differently from the other players yet again. A white player is always deflected from the ball, but the ball does not change color when this happens. White players also cannot be returned to becoming colored nor does touching any wall effect them in any way. Your team loses if all four of its members become white. Touching one of the colored walls has no effect on any player."

Harry considered this for a second. "You said that the point of the game is to make the opposing team members touch the white walls right?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Then what about pushing them into the wall?" He asked.

"Well, that is the kinda complicated part. Because it is legal to use your body to push someone into a wall so long as you are deflected off of the ball first. Pushing someone into a wall in any other case is a penalty. In fact in most cases touching a player on the other team is a penalty."

Ron spoke up next. "Well, if there is no score then how are penalties punished"

"Actually I think they are punished a bit harsher than they are in quidditch. A person's first penalty causes them to become 'penalized' which makes them white and work like a white player for the remainder of the game. However their uniform has black stripes to keep them separate from the other white players. Even a white player can be penalized, in which case their uniform just gets black stripes. If that player commits another penalty at all they are irrevocably removed from play. This also means you instantly lose if your entire team commits a penalty as they are all considered white."

"This sounds like a really interesting game." Neville said, "Is that it?"

Wesley thought for a while, "Well, without getting into specific strategies, situational rules and penalties, yeah."

Neville looked around and asked. "Hmm…now where should I sit?"

"I recommend sitting farther back since you can see more of the Grid then and this game gets pretty fast paced and even those of us who have been watching for years sometimes lose track of what's going on." Wesley then sat down near the back of the room. Harry decided to take Wesley's advice and sit near him. Neville took a seat by himself on another side of the Grid. Dean followed Neville but sat a few rows closer. Seamus followed Harry and Wesley and sat next to them. Harry was a tad annoyed. He had wanted to talk to Wesley in private. Ron on the other hand totally ignored Wesley's note and went down to sit in the first row.

"Ok the game is about to start." Wesley said. Harry watched as the players apparated into the grid. "The ones in blue are our school team, the tall one with blond hair is the captain Johnston. This would be his last year. We were kinda friends at home, one off the few people who actually trusted me enough to stay around." Harry frowned at the implied loneliness and Seamus just looked at Wesley oddly.

"The shorter stockier one is Kelsey, he is the point guard and his main job is to make sure that the ball stays blue. Off the field he is a major ass however he's so good that everyone tolerates him anyway. The girl is Lanx and she is the best damn attacker you'll ever see. She can attack them like a mother, both on and off the field. I don't know who the last guy is, probably a transfer student or maybe a freshman.

"The other team, in red is actually better in general then ours. Their captain isn't as tactical but their attacker ain't bad and their point guard makes Kelsey look like a fat bozo." Harry could tell that Wesley was really into this, he was talking about the team and positions similarly to how Ron talked about Quidditch.

As the ball was thrown Wesley quieted down and Harry soon saw why. The game started so fast that he very soon had no idea what was going on. The ball was moving at increasingly higher speeds as it deflected off of player after player in an ever increasing myriad of shifting colors. Despite the apparent chaos it didn't take all that long for Harry's seeker reflexes to pick up on the specifics of the current match and as he watched he saw that it was a lot less chaotic than is originally had seen.

The players were deflecting the ball even when it was the opposite color towards those opponents who seemed off balance at the time. In fact it seemed that the fact that one was magically blasted away from the ball was a more useful strategy for hitting an opponent with it than actually catching and throwing the ball at him as the ball moved at a much greater pace.

Of course the game continued without much variation for the first ten minutes or so until one of the red players was hit into the far white wall by a quick kick of the ball from Lanx. Harry then noticed the true strategy of the game. Also he noticed that the team closer to losing had a distinct advantage over the team that had more colored players. The white players could not only catch and save their teammates but also block and maneuver the ball with no real of retaliation. With the help of the white player the red team very quickly managed to knock both Kelsey and the younger player that Wesley didn't recognize into the white wall.

After that the game got really heated. The colored players dodged around the white players trying to maneuver the ball. He also noticed that quite often the players would use their own teammates to change direction mid jump, and the team nature of the sport made an even bigger impact on him. The game HAD to be won as a team, without teamwork there was no way a team would win. He compared that to Quidditch where it seemed that the chasers could be made nearly irrelevant unless one team had much better chasers than the other (the Quidditch world cup came to mind). The chasers are more fun to watch but its Seeker's that ultimately won most games. In this game it seemed like the players positions meant little more than their starting placement on the field and general place in the strategy. It seemed like the player's who got turned white first played a much greater roll in the strategy then any position did.

The game continued like that until there was only one colored player on each side. At this point the game came down to mostly evasive maneuver's on the part of the colored player. Unfortunately Johnston was a tad too tall and the other colored player managed to get shot from the ball, connect with him while he was mid jump and both of them went splattering into the white wall. They both turned white nearly simultaneously and it was only by a special charm that they even knew who won.

"Damn! Oh well…" Wesley said. He looked more amused than depressed though. "That was an ok game but there wasn't any major strategy there. That was mostly just a chaotic mess." Harry wasn't so sure of that but as this was the only game he had ever seen he didn't have much to compare it too.

After this they all decided to walk back to their dorms.

That evening Harry quietly woke up Wesley. Wesley silently motioned Harry onto his bed and then closed the curtains around them. "The bed has an imperturbable charm on it. So what's up?" He asked.

"Why were you there to break up me and Theodore's fight?" Harry asked, curious as to why Wesley had not been at breakfast.

He blushed nervously, "I was talking with Dumbledore about something when it happened. I was just in the right place at the right time I suppose."

Harry thought about this for a minute. It was obvious that he was not telling the whole truth but he had no idea what that was. So he just went to sleep, and waited for the next thing. Unsure what that would be.

Afterthoughts

Well, actually there is something wrong with my account or the story or something and so nothing aside of a single anonymous review has been updated on it since February 5th. I e-mailed about it but I haven't gotten a response yet. If you are a moderator and you happen to see this could you see what's going on? I would greatly appreciate it, as I would like to be able to constinue writing my fic.

The end all of this is that if you reviewed since the 5th, I haven't seen the review. I'm sorry, if you want to review the fic and have me actually get it so I can respond, it would be better to e-mail me, my e-mail is on my profile for those of you who wish to contact me.

Atleast until the story is working correctly again. I hope no one thoughtI was ignoring them and I will try and post a new chapter soon, but ifI don't it is more liley becuase of my account being screwy than me not finishing it. And again if anyone readingg this is a moderator. I would love it if you could do something about this, you can e-mail me at the same address for details and or to tell me it's fixed. Thanks.

Also I made a Yahoo Group that is for this story. Only the first chaptere is up at the moment. The link on my profile that claims to be my homepage is actually the yahoo group. So if your interested go check it out but its pretty bleak right now.


	21. A Question of Earning

Disclaimer: Standard, J.K. Rowling owns the universe and the characters that appear in her books. I own my additions to it…yadda yadda yadda. For the full disclaimer (that applies to the whole story not just the first chapter, see chapter one).

Chapter 21: A Question of Earning

The next day the staff surprised everyone at breakfast by canceling all the classes for the day so that they could hold a dueling competition and demonstration. Most of the students were rather elated at the class free day and the chance to see some of the most prominent witches and wizards of their day going at it.

The DA members had a much more solemn view of the situation. Harry exchanged a few worried looks with random DA members who looked just as worried as he was, or at least neutral but aware. The demonstration meant that the teachers were even more worried about the possibility of students having to defend themselves, or worse the school coming under attack. The fact that they were canceling all classes and not just using defense against the dark arts classes for the demonstration meant that the situation was indeed dire.

Harry was somewhat elated to see the professors duel, but that feeling was almost totally overridden by his worry.

After an hour of preparation time during which it was recommended that students change into something more comfortable (Harry exchanged smiles of thanks with Leon when Dumbledore announced this) they were all sitting in the great hall, which was set up similarly to how it was in his second year when Lockheart had tried to run that useless dueling club, and more importantly when he was revealed as a parselmouth. The platform in the center of the room was lower to the ground and more square shaped (Harry suspected to give the professors more room to maneuver) and there were chairs set up on three sides with small walkways every twenty chairs or so and a bit of free space between the front row of chairs and the platform. The teachers table remained where it was facing the fourth side of the platform and the professors were all sitting in their normal seats.

Harry, along with the other Sixth year Gryffindors had decided to take front row seats. Hermione was on one side of him and Ron was on the other. Seamus was next to Ron and Wesley was next to Hermione. Dean was surprisingly next to Seamus, and Lavender and Parvati were on the other side of Wesley. Fred and George had taken seats on either side of the group. Harry noticed that the front row was mostly DA members, the other students seemed to be milling about or trying to get seats further back with a better view of the whole platform. Harry knew why the DA members were up close. They didn't just want to watch impressive duels. They wanted to see the intricate things that were done, the details that could save their lives in the future.

It was a while before everyone showed up but by the time Dumbledore stood up and motioned for everyone's attention, nearly every chair in the room was filled. "Welcome to today's festivities, although they are not without reason nor are they merely for fun. We are quite aware of the difficulties of the current times and it is our hope that this demonstration will be helpful to you all should you ever be in a situation which would warrant using such skills." He looked over his half-moon shaped glassed as he said this. His eyes were not twinkling. The message was clear to Harry: pay attention, it is likely that you will be is such a situation sooner rather than later.

"Please be aware that no highly dangerous or deadly curses will be used today. The tournament will consist of four pairs of two professors who have each agreed to take part of this duel ahead of time. After these demonstrations, volunteers from the audience will be taken who wish to demonstrate what they know to the rest of the school." Harry noticed a distinct look in his direction as Dumbledore said this.

"This is a special case and it should be noted that there will still be no dueling allowed on school grounds except under great adult supervision. Also, no highly dangerous or deadly curses are to be used in any demonstrative duels." Dumbledore then sat down and motioned towards professor Sinistra, "You and Filius are ready?" He asked her politely.

"Yes, I believe we are." She responded, Flitwick had quickly hopped off of his stool, disappearing behind he table before he quickly appeared again and bounced more so than walked up to the center platform. Sinistra, whom Harry had barely seen, walked very elegantly towards the platform.

Given that Flitwick was the charms professor and a great wizard as far as anyone could tell, Harry expected this to be an incredible duel. He was greatly unimpressed. First and for some reason that Harry just didn't understand, the two professors were using quite a bit of etiquette with each other, even warning each other about oncoming spells and waiting for the other to cast a return spell after they had completed casting. The duel looked horribly rehearsed and by the end both Ron and Hermione had nudged him and given him looks which clearly said "what in the world is this?" Even some of the professors had odd expressions on their faces. Of course whether he thought this was strange or not, Dumbledore's face remained a happy smile. The most interesting thing about the duel was the fact that some charm was stopping every spell cast from exiting the dueling area, which wasn't even that unexpected considering they were surrounded by students on most sides.

After a good ten minutes of very gracefully cast curses, all of which were gracefully countered with exactly the right counter curse. Both professors stopped and faced the audience, which seemed for the most part stunned at the utter inanity of the so called duel.

Flitwick spoke first, "It was our intention to show that a duel does not have to be a debased violent battle. Duels can be fought with poise and etiquette." He smiled bouncily as he said this.

Sinistra spoke next, "Certainly, one should remember that in a proper duel, dignity is just as important as victory." They both then bowed to each other, and then bowed towards each side of the platform.

Harry wasn't sure what kind of "proper" duels they were referring to, but that looked more like a dance than a duel to him. He had heard that professor Flitwick was an established duelist as well and was greatly disappointed with what he had just seen. Dumbledore however stood up and clapped as if it had been the best duel he had ever seen, "Marvelous, jolly good show!" He announced.

_Good show is right! That was an act not a duel!_ Harry thought.

Dumbledore then sat down again and turned towards McGonagall, "Are you and Nymphadora ready?" Tonks looked at Dumbledore with disdain at the mention of her first name, and not more than a few students smirked in her direction. Maybe it was because she was a metamorphmagus, but her face looked scarier than normal as she looked menacingly out into the audience, daring them to say anything. All such snickering and smirking stopped at that point, even from the Slytherins. Dumbledore completely ignored this and acted as if nothing had happened. McGonagall simply walked up to the platform with a neutral but stern expression. Much like she wore at the front of her classroom. Tonks was a bit more animated but her expression was far from relaxed.

They stood at their ends of the platform looking at each other evenly, not staring but certainly attentively ready for whatever came their way. Harry was already anticipating a much more serious duel, Tonks was an Auror and McGonagall was pretty much established as one who was very capable at just about anything. This start was nothing like the practically friendly start of the last duel. So then Dumbledore said "Go." And the two jumped into the fray, literally in the case of Tonks, who appeared to have much better footwork than normal when she was dueling. This fact seemed to support Harry's theory that Tonks' clumsiness was at least somewhat active.

Tonks dove forward and to the left, coming very close to the edge of the platform before launching a curse at McGonagall, who had simply readied her wand. The next feat was simply amazing. McGonagall at the very last second used the vary decoy charm that she had taught Hermione over the summer, creating a small purple sphere which the curse harmlessly arced to, totally ignoring its original target. Tonks did not seem surprised at this and continued casting curse after curse. Whereas at the beginning of that battle she was her usual stern self, McGonagall now had an expression of glee on her face that made her look quite scary as she decoyed or dodged, quite quickly considering her cane, every spell that came her way. She even had time to return more than one curse and Tonks had more than few close calls within the first few seconds of the duel.

It became very clear to both duelists that a direct assault was not going to be effective against the current opponent, both backing off but still ready for any surprises. Tonks then made a crucial mistake, she summoned McGonagall's cane. At first it seemed the logical thing to do, that is until McGonagall showed her preparedness by transfiguring it into a table, which was much too large for Tonks to catch or get around and so she had no choice but to dive to the ground. McGonagall had known this and so she had sent a disarming charm low, effectively forcing Tonks to jump off the platform or lose her wand, either which would end the duel with McGonagall as victor. The table, which of course would have continued going off the platform and into the audience anyway, was caught in mid air by a quick _leviosa_ charm from Flitwick. McGonagall quickly transfigured it back into a cane before summoning it back to herself.

The entire room broke out in applause despite the relative shortness of the duel. Not only was it a very impressive show of general spellmanship, but it was also much more impressive than the first duel between Flitwick and Sinistra. Dumbledore had a bright twinkle in his eyes as he clapped and if they were offended at the cheers for the duel when there was none for theirs, Flitwick and Sinistra did not show it, appearing just as excited and happy as everyone else.

The next duel was between professor Vector and professor Sprout. Harry didn't know very much about either professor, only being somewhat interested in Herbology, which of course wouldn't show him anything related to this anyway, not having anything to do with Arithmancy, which also wouldn't, at least to Harry's knowledge, affect a duel in the slightest.

The duel was impressive, although not spectacular. Harry imagined it was what any standard duel would look like between any two wizards or witches that were competent duelists. This isn't to say that he wasn't impressed with their spellwork, as it was exemplary. But with the exception of Sprouts victory, which she had accomplished by catching Vector off guard by conjuring a vine that held her tight while she was disarmed (proving Harry's theory of Herbology not having anything to do with dueling somewhat inaccurate) the duel was mostly well cast curses and countercurses. It lasted around five minutes.

Dumbledore reacted exactly the same as he had to the other two duels and the audience gave an excited applause although it was somewhat subdued from the ecstatic response to the duel between Tonks and McGonagall.

The next duel was predictably between Leon and Snape. Who both simply got up and walked to the platform without even being announced. Neither had a discernable expression, of course this didn't surprise Harry either as these were the two people whom seemed to be the best at hiding their true feelings of anyone.

Harry didn't know what to expect, but he hardly expected the duel to be the shortest duel so far. Not after Leon's display in class with the sword and Snape's history with the dark arts. But the duel was easily the most anticlimactic and fastest one yet. As soon as Dumbledore started the duel Leon immediately yelled, "_Legillimens_!" Harry was surprised that Leon would choose this spell, as even though he was certain that he was better at psionics than Snape (after all, Leon had spent most of his life studying the lost art whereas Snape simply seemed to have a knack for it) he wasn't certain that he was so much better that it was a reliable tool. However Harry was mistaken, and totally shocked by what happened next.

Snape started laughing, and it wasn't a sickening or scary laugh as Harry imagined Snape's laugh would be. No it was a very merry laugh that would have sounded quite appropriate coming from Dumbledore or Flitwick but sounded scary coming from Snape by the fact that is wasn't in the least bit scary. Leon took the split second of distraction to disarm him and that was that. There was no applause, everyone seemed utterly shocked. Even Dumbledore seemed surprised, as he raised an eyebrow noticeably and his eyes were that much more twinkly.

Snape soon calmed down and instead of getting embarrassed as Harry thought he would he smirked in Leon's direction, obviously impressed. "I should have known you would do the one thing that would allow you to win the duel." He said evenly.

Leon smirked back, "I'm surprised it worked, it was a desperation tactic on my part." He then turned to the audience. The members who knew him were even more stunned then before. "There was no way I was going to beat him, or any sighted person in a standard spell duel without some corrective tool. Most spells do not have an audio component other than the incantation, and incantations can be spoken incredibly softly or, if one knows how, not at all. Given that there is no feasible way for a blind person to actively dodge or counter such spells."

A sixth year Ravenclaw girl who Harry didn't know raised her hand, then stood up and spoke. "What about that demonstration in class? You seemed quite capable of dodging spells then."

Leon faced her, "I was wondering if someone was going to bring that up. The truth is that in that case the sword was doing nearly as much of the work as I was. I was merely reacting to its presence. It was guiding my actions. There is no way I could have done that on my own, even if I could see. My reflexes are good, probably much better than the average person, but they are not nearly good enough to do that, at least not without substantial magical help."

The girl wasn't through though, "Ok, I can see that. But then what did you do? Certainly laughter is not a standard effect of _legillimens_." She said, truly perplexed. Harry had a pretty good idea what he had done, having experienced that spell used in a similar manner before.

Dumbledore stood up as she asked and said, "Yes Leon, I am curious as well. I have an idea what you did, but I should think that you might want to enlighten us all as to the nature of your obviously effective stratagem." Dumbledore's eyes were still Twinkling far more than they even normally twinkled, he seemed truly curious something that Harry rarely saw in the man. Most of the time he seemed to know everything about what was going on and more, his twinkling a manifestation of mystery not of curiosity.

"Well, ok, since I was going to explain anyway now is as good a time as any. In most cases when someone is dueling they are in a state of anxiety, or at least high alertness. Thoughts are generally more neutral and negative, thinking about strategies and dangers. In this state positive thoughts are generally totally out of the persons mind and that is the key. _Legillimens_ does not just show a legillimencer another person's memories, it makes the legillimencee and the legillimencer experience those memories. Great legillimencers simply combine the charm with memory charms to make the person forget about it. Either that or makes it seem like the person is simply remembering something as oppose to sharing that memory. In any case, _legillimens_ is just as useful for making someone else experience a memory as it is for taking them. In this case I went for truly joyous memories on the hunch that he would not expect that at all and thus not be particularly occluding or even thinking about them. Given that I hoped that he would react as he did, reacting to the sudden infuse of emotion in the only wayonecan, by laughing, the fairly universal reaction to anything that the brain can't quite understand. After that I suspect he simply continued to laugh merrily out of the joy those memories contained." Snape simply raised his eyebrow at the explanation.

"Marvelous, marvelous, truly a good show." Dumbledore said, obviously quite happy. "Now let us get on with this shall we?" And that was that, no more was spoken about the errant duel.

He then stood up and directly addressed the audience. "Now is there anyone who would like to try the arena?" His eyes continued twinkling as he gazed over the room, daring the students to come up.

Harry was not surprised when Blaise stood up and walked up to the platform. "Ah Mr. Zabini… Do we have any challengers?" No one else taking the bait, Harry was about to stand up, but then Padma stood and calmly walked to stage. Harry saw a mischievous gleam in both of their eyes. He wasn't sure but he suspected that something was up.

"Hello Slytherin, I wonder what your Death Eater parents will think of this?" Padma taunted very uncharacteristically. Blaise over dramatically grabbed his heart and feigned pain. The other teachers looked affronted but didn't say anything. As oppose to affronted, Snape looked rather intrigued.

"I don't know Ravenclaw. What do your parents think?"

Harry was now confused. He wondered exactly was the point of this? He knew Padma and Blaise were quite friendly to each other, as was everyone else in their Psionics class. Both of them were also incredibly clever, so there had to be some purpose to this beyond just simple taunting.

Padma then started with a quick _pertrificus totalus_ which Blaise quickly dodged. "Interesting!" Blaise said before launching a quick _stupefy_ which Padma deflected. "I would think that you blood traitors would be more effective. Or are you mudbloods? It gets harder to tell these days!"

Harry was shocked, what was this? Padma seemed totally unaffected in fact her grin had gotten even wider if that was possible. Many of the students looked like they were about to hex Blaise. The DA members, at least that Harry could see looked perplexed.

"Wouldn't you like to know Death Eater! But look, no mark? Must have been too tainted to make the cut!" While she spoke, Blaise tossed another _supefy_ at her which she quickly dodged.

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling more than ever and Snape seemed impressed for some reason. McGonagall was about to stand up but something stopped her. Sprout looked almost sick and yet she stayed seated. Harry pondered this. Anyone who knew anything could tell that neither of them was taking the actual duel seriously. Harry thought more and more that this was just an excuse to taunt each other. Most of the DA member's looked incredibly perplexed. Zacharias looked like he wanted to Rip Blaise' head off.

Eventually Blaise shot a well placed _diffindo_ which nearly split Padma's entire robe in two. This would seem to be a good tactic except that Padma was not nearly as sheepish as he apparently hoped. She simply grabbed her robe, pulled it clear off, revealing her underclothes and threw it at Blaise. One _alacritis_ later and Blaise was now quite wrapped in the robe and also quite off the dueling platform. He had barely missed hitting Lavender, who was gaping at Padma. Harry wasn't certain whether to look away or stareas Padma was quite beautiful. Padma quickly solved this problem by summoning back her robes and then transfiguring them complete again before quickly shoving them over her head. Despite this he heard a distant sigh of delight from Dean's direction and if what he saw was correct, quite a few of the boys shared his sentiment. Padma didn't seem to care in the slightest.

Blaise calmly, and still smiling walked back up to the platform where he almost congratulated Padma saying, "Nice work blood traitor. You might just be able to hold yourself against a Death Eater…" He trailed off as if to imply that he was definitely kidding.

Padma responded with, "No wonder they wouldn't let you in. That was only so so."

Dumbledore stood up, and Harry was curious what his response was going to be to their obvious show of quite inappropriate taunting. "Well, well, well. That was an interesting event. I certainly hope that you all learned something from it. I know I did." The way he looked at the audience over his glasses showed he was quite serious. What he meant by this Harry was left to ponder. Snape seemed rather pleased at this for some reason. The rest of the teacher's looked rather confused except Leon who had a totally neutral expression the whole time.

Blaise and Padma then walked back to where they were sitting. Harry hadn't noticed before but they were sitting right next to each other, and in fact had been the entire tome. This seemed to perplex everyone even more as they both went and sat down as if they hadn't spent the last ten minutes taunting each other.

The rest of the so called tournament was rather normal, with a few more people standing up and dueling. Harry had pulled a rather mean trick on Ron using _serpensortia_ to conjure a large number of Snakes whom he told to trap Ron in the corner where he was easily disarmed. He was quite happy with himself and afterwards Dumbledore looked quite happy. Most of the audience were a little freaked at his overt use of parseltongue but Harry realized that he didn't particularly care. He looked for Devon Witter and found him sitting in the front row smiling in Harry's direction knowingly. Ernie on the other hand looked a tad lonely, and a bit envious Harry thought.

Other than that, the duels were typical. Curses, counter curses, what Harry imagined a duel might look like. Harry noticed that most of the DA members had chosen not to duel. Harry guessed they didn't want to show off the best of their talents in front of possible Death Eaters. Harry thought this wise, but stood up anyway to play Ron for the fool. After all, he had never truly gotten him back for that punch in the nose that first week.

The tournament was over by lunchtime and the students had the rest of the day to "Muse over the events of the morning." According to Dumbledore, but as the Teacher's and the majority of the order members were nowhere to be seen. Harry was certain that they were having a meeting somewhere. Wherever they were, it wasn't on the marauder's map, so with nothing else to do, Harry decided to ask Padma and Blaise what their duel had been about.

He found Padma sitting in the Library lazily reading _Hogwarts, A History_. She looked quite bored, and when Harry approached her she immediately perked up. "Hey Harry. That tournament was rather dull wasn't it? Nice trick on Ron with the snakes though. Even if it was chilling to hear you speak parseltongue again." Madam Pince gave the two of them a menacing look and a grandiose "SHH!" that Harry was certain disturbed more readers than Padma's comment. Still, they both stood up and left the library. Leaving the book open on the table where it was and earning another glare from the cantankerous librarian.

"Funny you should bring up the tournament because…"

Padma cut Harry off, "I figured you were wondering about that duel between me and Blaise." Harry just nodded. "We have been planning such a thing for a while now. We wanted to test how far the professors would let us go on with our taunting. We were going to start a random duel in the courtyard but then this tournament came up and it was the perfect time. As we suspected the teachers got rather put off but didn't actually do a single thing to stop us. Leading both of us to believe that the way they intend to solve the problem of inter-house fighting is to ignore it unless sit gets dangerous as to not appear to take sides. While this might seem like a good idea it means that we as students are even more responsible." Her face got more serious as she said this. "On the one hand it means that the adults will have to spend less time bailing us out. On the other hand it means that we are being left to our own devices. Which means that if it ever comes down to a battle for Hogwarts and we are not sent somewhere else, the entire battle could be decided before the fact by how divided the students are. Especially if more of them follow Theodore's footsteps and join the Death Eaters."

Harry got silent. "Should we be talking about this where everyone can hear us?" He asked solemnly.

"Why not? People need to know. We can't foster house unity if we keep secrets from each other. Someone is going to have to budge on that and I for one think it should be us. After all, the DA is the most interlinked group with students from not just multiple but every house that Hogwarts has had in a very long time. The fact that we have three Slytherins including Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle whom most of us used to hate with a passion shows that."

Both Harry and Padma looked down towards the floor in intense thought. The whole world seemed to have fallen on their shoulders. Of course Harry had already felt that way. But this was a tad different. It wasn't on his shoulders. It was on their shoulders, the group's. Harry had heard the statement a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. He wondered if they were up to this self appointed task. With respect to inter-house unity their most obvious weak link was Zacharias Smith who couldn't seem to fully discard his dislike for Slytherin. But he wondered. He knew that there were more who were at least wary of them, possibly worse. If push came to shove would they jump in the line of fire for a Slytherin student? He doubted it. Would they for another? He thought it was more likely.

Harry shook his head. Why was he even considering these things? He is a sixth year in school, and not even legally an adult. Yet he had been thinking of such things for years. It was only nearing Christmas and he was already feeling the weight of time. Padma's point scared him in more ways than just the responsibility. He was certain that Hogwarts was going to be attacked, and he was not at all certain that the students would be able to avoid it.

When they reached the moving staircases, Harry decided to go find Blaise. Padma said she was going to go to her room and do some studying. So Harry headed down towards the Dungeons and Padma headed up and disappeared into the moving staircases. Harry realized again that he had no idea where the Ravenclaw dormitories were. He decided that he should rectify that in case it ever became important, such as that night with Devon, for him to know where it is. He would have to ask one of the Ravenclaws in the DA, either that or professor Flitwick.

As he pondered this he was totally not paying attention to where he was going and as he walked around a corner he ran straight into Snape. Who was quite less than pleased to see him, especially as he had been holding a vial of some sort that was now shattered and was quickly staining both their robes a rather ugly shade of green.

"As expected Mr. Potter, you still lack the decency of watching where you are going." He sneered in Harry's direction. But there wasn't the same disdain for him that Harry was used to in his dealings with his potions professor. No it seemed that Snape was just truly annoyed with the situation. Of course he was playing his part well, but Harry began to see it for what it was: an act.

"I'm sorry sir…" He said quietly.

"That is what you always say and frankly it got old a long time ago. Now would you kindly tell me why you are headed in the opposite direction from your common room? Alone no less. You know the current situation just as well as I. You are supposed to be accompanied by at least two other students at all times. Or did you forget the headmaster's announcement?"

Harry was surprised. Snape seemed actually worried about him. That and he hadn't so much as mentioned house points. If I had been a year ago he would have taken away fifty points for the stain, another ten for him being absentminded and yet another ten for only having 'I'm sorry' as a response. "No I remember it…" he said sheepishly.

"Then I suppose you decided that you were beyond such rules?" It was odd. Snape's tone was exactly the same as it always had been. Yet it seemed a lot less offensive to Harry. True he hadn't immediately taken off house points, but still. Harry almost felt ashamed. Something his professor had never been able to get out of him before. He wondered if Snape's former vindictiveness had just been his imagination or if something had happened between now and the summer to change the man.

"I was looking for Blaise Zabini. And I was with Padma Patil until a few minutes ago, although I admit that isn't exactly a group of three."

Snape growled, "Well that's better. At least you are starting to get something of a brain. Now, as you have ruined this potion I was taking to Remus for his monthly cycle I have to return to my office, so I will escort you to the Slytherin common. You will have to find your own way back however. And it will be with at least two people or I will be forced to report this digression to the headmistress." Harry nodded and they started walking towards the Slytherin commons. Of course he already knew where they were and the fact that Snape was not giving him directions at all showed that either he was quite aware of that or didn't care either way.

After a few hallways of silence Snape snidely turned his head Harry's way and said, "Twenty points from Gryffindor for absolutely no reason at all."

Harry blinked and looked up at his professor, suppressing his urge to get furious. One side of Snape's lip was slightly upturned in a subtle smirk. Was this some sort of test? It had to be. "Severus," Snape's expression neutralized at the sound of his first name. "I know that I have had difficulty respecting you before, and that we both got off on the wrong foot for reasons that had little to do with each other…" Snape didn't respond at all. He didn't interrupt Harry and if he was mad he didn't show it. In fact his general scowl didn't seem to be present at all. "I think I understand why you want respect now."

At that Snape snickered indignantly as if Harry were a complete idiot. His voice was deadly serious as he spoke however. "I should think that you would know better that that Mr. Potter. You know as much as I do that respect that is not earned is not respect at all."

Harry wasn't nearly as surprised as he expected himself to be. "Yeah, like my 'respect' for the headmaster as a child. You know, as soon as I had a reason to respect him it turned out that I didn't, not really."

Snape smirked at him. Harry realized that this smirk was the same as if anyone else had given him the biggest smile. His voice remained unaffected by his change in demeanor. "The headmaster awes with his power and draws superficial respect for the same reasons that the Dark Lord does. I doubt he has felt capable of earning respect for a very long time."

Harry nodded, he understood. He had been "respected" as soon as he was thrusted into the wizarding world. He hadn't done anything to earn this respect. Even the thing everyone had respected him for was an action of his parents not his own. He realized what the difference was. His friends and the DA respected him for who he was, not some scar on his face. But what of a man whose very essence called for respect? He would be incapable of earning respect at all. Harry couldn't imagine what that would feel like.

"As for your so called respect, I am not so dense as to think that students automatically respect me, or any teacher for that matter. What I ask for when I call for respect is simple etiquette." Snape's tone was still no nonsense.

"Oh… So if you can't get real respect from students than you at least want the illusion of it?"

For the first time in this conversation the old hateful Snape returned. He stopped faced Harry and met him eye to eye. "You idiot boy! Even you have to know it is not that simple!"

Harry just nodded, and pondered this for a minute. "Why the sudden change of heart? Just a few months ago you were reveling in my misery and now we are almost being civil to each other."

"A respected friend…" Harry caught the double entendre there, Snape wasn't referring to just anyone. He was referring to someone who had really earned his respect. Leon, it had to be Leon. Snape knew Harry knew. It was plainly obvious. Harry realized that it wasn't just his expression. Harry and Snape were communicating on a whole other level. Snape was showing himself really to Harry for the first time. Harry also realized that for the first time he was truly showing Snape the very same thing, himself.

Harry looked at him again, "You don't really want respect at all do you?" He asked bluntly. Snape responded with total neutrality, his stare was deep and rather menacing however Harry understood it. "It's because of that isn't it?" Harry nodded his head in Snape's arm's direction, the one that beneath those black robes held the Dark Mark. Again Snape responded only with a deep stare that could only mean accent. "All this time I thought you were just mean, and it was really because you didn't want us to like you. You knew we would have to choose sides and that us worrying about you would be a liability. You expect to be killed… And you don't want anybody caught in the crossfire. You know what… I think I understand what you meant by respect…"

Snape nodded, "That was a very astute, although not totally accurate assessment. I fully expect to live. And as for the students liking me I could really care less…"

"But it's more than that. Students liking you would create a liability that you could do without. The Slytherins are an exception. You don't really have to worry about them since most of them wouldn't pry anyway and you knew that. Any other student might have found out what you were. What you still are in a sense, and then all of this would be for not regardless of which side you were on."

"Again Potter you should think before you speak. Anyone who wishes may know of my former alliances. All they would have to do is look at the files at the ministry about known Death Eaters. Either that or the morning paper, after all they seem to reprint that bit of information every few weeks."

Harry thought about it again, Snape was right that wasn't a particularly reasonable assumption. Then he got it, he really got it. "It's a question of who deserves what. You don't want to earn anyone's respect because you don't feel a need to. Any respect could be a liability and without the true need of it you don't try. The students then hate you which serves your purposes just fine. You keep up your menacing demeanor and no one guesses about you because they are too busy hating you or unreasonably blaming you for everything. A natural shield against the truth…"

Snape smirked again, and Harry nodded. He got that the truth was he was miserable. Snape was a hateful man, but he was not a stupid hateful man. He realized that being hateful could be a benefit given the right circumstance. As a true Slytherin, he had worked every angle to instigate such a situation. This revelation didn't make Harry like Snape at all. However, he finally truly respected him and he knew that Snape finally respected him.

"A truce then," Harry said, voicing what they both knew had just happened. Snape simply turned towards the common room as if that deep talk had never happened. Harry then noticed that Snape had led them off to a very secluded part of the dungeons while they were talking. So this was planned. He looked at his shirt and the green stain was no longer there. It had to be, but how did he know?

With that Snape knocked on the door to the common room in an odd pattern. The door opened and Snape shoved Harry in. He then walked off towards his office, the door shutting behind him, leaving Harry to face a room full of Slytherins by himself.

The room looked exactly as he remembered it, except of course it was a lot smaller than it seemed when he was twelve. It felt rather dreary and Harry was inclined to find Blaise as soon as possible before leaving. The fact that everyone in the common room was staring at him only served to heighten his sense of impending doom.

A couple of Slytherin seventh years walked over to him. "And what do we have here? Apparently Professor Snape left us a treat." A boy said. A group was forming around him staring at him, sadistic Grins on their faces.

Harry was certain this was going to be a quite unpleasant experience, at least until the door to the common room opened and in walked a rather fast moving Malfoy. One look at the situation and he was appalled. "What are you sods trying to do? Get us all killed!" He yelled at them.

A fifth year responded, "Harry was brought here by professor Snape. Why else would our own heroic Gryffindor be brought here than to be taught a lesson?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes, "To meet his friend you idiot. You really think that anyone would bring Potter here just so you could attack him? You realize what will happen if Potter returns from our common room hurt right? We would never live it down! The rest of the school would kill us, not to mention most of the known world."

"We could kill him?" Harry was not fond at all of this third year's suggestion.

Malfoy just looked down at him with an expression of total indignation on his face. "If the Dark Lord couldn't kill him, and a group of highly trained Death Eater's couldn't kill him then what makes you think that you have any chance of killing him! Besides if nothing else Snape knows he's here, and I am guessing that at least one of his little friends knows he's here as well. Suppose you DID succeed in killing him! Then we wouldn't be facing an attack! WE WOULD BE FACING A MARTYR!" Malfoy gazed around the group as if they were the stupidest people in the known universe. "I certainly hope you all understand what that would mean. I for one would like to keep my head where it is attached to my shoulders, and I am not so fond of the prospect of Azkaban either. So stop being idiots and wait until you are full fledged Death Eater's before making any moves! As for me, I am going to pretend that I didn't find you all about to dig us an early grave and go do my Potions essay."

A Seventh year remained smug, "So the rumors of you and Potter's friendship are true eh?"

Malfoy did an about face and his face said nothing less than the words that came out of his mouth. "You really are daft aren't you? Potter is no more my friend than you are Harkins! But friend or not, hurting him now would only serve to hurt us later. I for one want to protect my own hide! Not to mention the fact that he would probably beat the lot of you. Don't get cocky. It is a fact that he has survived more than you will probably ever know. Hatred is no excuse for stupidity." At that Malfoy turned and left the shocked Slytherins and a somewhat impressed Harry before heading of towards his dormitory.

Blaise was coming out as they spoke and Harry noticed that both boys pointedly ignored each other. "Harry? What are you doing here?" Blaise said surprised at seeing Harry at the top of the stairs by the entrance to the room. He then looked at the group of Slytherins around him. "And what is this about?" His voice was distinctly more threatening as he said this.

The boy called Harkins responded, "Look its Slytherins resident Gryffindor. I don't know what the hat was thinking putting you here Zabini but you certainly don't deserve the blood in your veins."

Blaise totally ignored the comment and said. "I highly suggest that you leave him alone unless you want to get hurt." His tone remained threatening.

"So you would fight for him? You blood traitor!"

"I would fight alongside my friend. But you have messed with the wrong person even if I had never showed up. He could probably at least injure the lot of you. Besides that the rest of the school would kill you." Blaise threat stood there.

A third year pulled on Harkins robed. "Draco said the same thing. Do you think they might be right?"

Harkins grabbed the smaller boy menacingly and lifted him off the ground, but before he could say or do anything more both Harry and Blaise had leveled their wands at him. "Drop him!" Blaise said.

"Or what Zabini? You wouldn't dare curse me. With your standing you wouldn't live it down." Harkins' cocky tone said it all.

Harry said, "Who said anything about him? Besides, if you think that your family can protect you here you are distinctly mistaken. More powerful families than yours have failed at this." Harry honestly wasn't sure how powerful his family was, but he knew how powerful Lucius was and he had barely been able to protect his own son let alone his interests so he thought it was a significant threat.

Harry noticed that while the common room seemed united a few seconds ago that it seemed a lot more distinctly divided now. It appeared that the thought that the Slytherin manipulated each other using fear and family standing was not at all off. But now they were beginning to see that their family standings meant little here.

Harkins went for his wand but Harry quickly disarmed it and then tossed it over the room to Blaise, who was a safer distance away from the group. Blaise smiled silkily, "I suppose you might want to change your mind. After all I could make your remaining stay at school rather unpleasant…" Harry was seeing the Slytherin side of Blaise and it was darker than he expected. Blaise pointed his wand at Harkins' wand glaring at the boy with an anger that Harry had only seen in his own reflection. Harkins' face whitened. He looked around. The people that had been by him were either watching expectantly or had lost interest. He had considerably less followers than he had started with and now his wand itself was being threatened. "Don't mess with me or my friends Harkins!" Blaise said. "You are not the master wizard you claim to be. And I doubt that your parents would condone such behavior." Blaise threw Harkin's back his wand. "As for the rest of you, you are bloody Slytherins for Christ's sake! Show some dignity at least! How can you expect to make it to the top if you bow down to the first larger person to come your way? Honestly, what does our house stand for anyway? No wonder we need to cheat to win at this school. None of you sods have been paying enough attention to the rules at all in order to use them! Take a hint from me, or professor Snape for that matter. The only person you can truly rely on is yourself. Certainly not a family of Slytherins who would just as well use you and then throw you away!"

Harry lowered his wand, he wanted this to end. "Blaise, I actually came down here to find you." He said, the truth being just as good a change of subject as anything else.

"Ok, but let's get out of here shall we?" Blaise asked, Harry nodded and they quickly left the Slytherin common area, but not before leveling one last accusative gaze at Harkins for good measure.

After they were suitably down the hallway, Blaise turned towards Harry. "So how did you get into the common room anyway?" He asked.

"Snape let me in, although I already knew where the Slytherin commons was from previous experience." Blaise simply nodded.

Harry thought about Blaise reaction to Harkins in the common room. Yet another darker side he had yet to witness. "Did you really mean that? When you said that the only person you can truly count on is yourself?

Blaise looked at Harry with a raised eyebrow. "Of course I did. It's the truth."

Harry looked down at his feet, "What about counting on your friends."

Blaise looked at him, "You can count on them to an extent. But friends can't always be there, even if they want to be. You have to be able to accomplish anything that needs to be done without them. Even if you wish they could help you. If Slytherin teaches you anything it's that."

That made sense but was still unsettling to Harry. "I think it is better to wait for your friends than to escape alone. There is something to be said for unity…"

Blaise looked down at the floor, "Friendship versus survival… That is the hardest decision anyone can ever have to make. No one should have to make that decision, yet we are forced to all the time."

Harry nodded, Blaise understood. Harry also understood, Blaise was right, the only person on can totally rely on is one's self. And that is assuming that one can totally rely on anything.

"So why did you really want to talk to me?" Blaise raised his eyebrow again as he said this.

"I wanted to talk to you about your duel this morning. But now I think I just want to go to sleep. Sorry for dragging you out but I really needed someone to accompany me out of the Dungeons. Snape already got on my case for coming down here alone.

They reached the moving staircases as he said that. "No problem." Blaise said, he then let out a huge yawn. "I really should go to sleep as well. After all, I think we all have been losing some with everything that has been going on."

Harry nodded and quickly went back to his common room where he took a long nap. He woke up and went to dinner, but afterwards still found himself rather exhausted. With his classes and the DA and Quidditch and everything he hadn't had a full nights sleep in weeks and he thought he might as well use his off day to get as much rest as possible so after dinner he went to his room and fell into bed for what he hoped would be dreamless sleep.

Harry woke up with a kink in his neck and an aching back. He felt rather rested, but there was something wrong. He wasn't lying on his bed at Hogwarts. He was lying on a hard cold floor. It was also darker than he was used to and when he opened his eyes he found himself staring between two buildings at the night sky. He stood up and stretched his aching muscles and cracked his neck releasing the tension from having slept on the hard ground. When he looked around he found he recognized the place, but barely. He was in Knockturn alley. Harry felt odd, he was certain that Knockturn alley would be very busy at night. He remembered from his third year how Diagon Alley was. Knockturn alley was the low side of town where the less honorable business took place. If that was anything like the muggle world then this place should be even more crawling with people now then during the day.

It certainly shouldn't have been totally devoid of life except for Harry himself, and then it finally occurred to him to wonder how he had gotten here. Although with his previous experiences it hardly mattered. He had accepted that strange things happened to him and that he would likely have it all explained to him later, if he survived of course.

He was about to explore the area when he heard the sound of quickly approaching footsteps. It appeared that the alley was not as devoid of life and Harry had expected, so he ducked into a nearby empty alley which conveniently shadowed in such a way that he could look out at the street in either direction and anyone on the street would be unlikely to ever spot him.

The footsteps were moving quickly and it occurred to Harry that whomever they belonged to was most likely running. Harry realized that he didn't have his wand, something that made him distinctly more wary of the thing running towards him.

A human figure quickly approached him and when he realized that he recognized it he was incredibly relieved. So he stuck his hand out and pulled Blaise into the alley with him, what he got was not what he expected.

Blaise shoved him into the wall and said, "Harry? Is…is that really you?" He was guarded. Harry was stunned, of course it was him. But something told him that Blaise wouldn't take a simple yes. But how could he prove to him that he was in fact Harry?

Blaise looked anxious and more and more ready to punch Harry in the face. Harry could think of nothing better to say so he decided to mind speak, "Yeah it's me."

Blaise mind spoke back, "Really? You're not a metamorphmagus in disguise or something?"

Harry had not expected that response and he looked at Blaise in confusion. "What would make you think of that?" He asked. It never was the first thought to come to his mind although now that he thought about it, especially considering what he knew about Wesley, it probably should be something he might want to consider.

Blaise' response was hardly what Harry expected. He started shrinking and growing thinner and before Harry knew it he was staring at a copy of himself, minus the scar. If it weren't for his bright green eyes he would have thought he was looking at his father.

Harry blinked as he stared the truth now obvious to him. He found himself looking at Blaise again once his eyes came back into focus. "You're a metamorphmagus?" Blaise nodded then let Harry down.

"That's the real reason why I was sent to America while most of the other Death Eater's children were sent either home or to other's homesif their homes were too dangerous. Dumbledore didn't want to chance adding a metamorphmagus especially one with potential access to the school to their ranks. The funny thing is that I didn't even know I WAS a metamorphmagus until over the summer. Everyone knew but me, I was being prodded on both sides, prepared as the perfect Death Eater on one hand and modeled against them at the same time. I honestly never had any intention of joining them. I knew that with my 'imperfect' blood, which I was aware I had but was unaware what it was or what that meant that I was only wanted to be used." He sat down.

"There is another thing, the reason I took the Psionics class. I lied to you. It wasn't just to protect my secrets." Harry sat down and listened. It was clear that they were alone. Whatever this place was he felt no danger within it. "I wanted to be able to protect myself from _imperius_. I have always been highly susceptible to mental intrusion. Why do you think I was so quick to take up the Occlumency lessons? I have learned a lot but I still think that anyone who actually wanted to could get anything they wished out of my head."

"You seemed rather good with the penseive from what I saw…" Harry said.

"That's different. All I had to do there was reconceptualize one thought. This is reconcepsualizing my entire thought process. I don't think I am quite capable of that, at least not anytime soon." He looked over at Harry. "Despite the front I put up I am actually don't trust my abilities that much. I can pull off some decent spell work in a safe environment but when it comes to something with stuff on the line I choke. For instance I only got acceptable on most of my OWL practicals. The only one I got beyond that was potions and that requires no wand work, and it's something I have always loved. I only made E on the requirements for my NEWTs through hard work on my theoreticals. And even then I almost choked during the test."

Harry only nodded. Blaise had always seemed overconfident in his abilities. That made more sense now. Harry had wondered whether he was fallible or not but it appeared that he was just like the rest of them. In fact now that he looked at him, he seemed quite a bit like Neville. He guessed he was seeing the Blaise that everyone in Slytherin had known for ages. After all, before this year he hadn't stood out at all.

It then occurred to Harry that they were both in their sleeping clothes and presumably wandless. Why else would Blaise physically force Harry into a wall? Harry was small and nearly anyone could do that to him. Blaise was bigger than him certainly but he wasn't extremely large, so it didn't seem prudent for that to be his general course of action. Harry suddenly had an unreasonable feeling of embarrassment at being seen in his pajamas that he felt was rather ridiculous given the circumstances. Blaise was wearing a wife beater and boxer shorts. Harry still wore full body pajamas. He didn't quite know why, he had never thought to get anything else. And since they used to be Dudley's, he never had any worry of growing out of them.

After that bout with embarrassment, he thought it best to get straight to the point. "Um, do you have any idea how we got here?"

Blaise scratches his head, a look of confusion on his face. "I have no idea, I just woke up here with the incredibly urge to run away from Death Eaters. Honestly I don't even know if I ever saw one. I just sprung up and ran."

"I didn't quite have that but I did wake up here and it felt like I had been here for some time. My back was really sore." Harry rubbed his back and neck which were still a tad stiff.

"I didn't have time to notice, although now I think I have a bit of a headache." Blaise rubbed his forehead a bit before continuing. "You wouldn't happen to have your wand would you?" He asked hopefully.

"Nope," Harry responded, and Blaise let out a dismal sigh.

"What are we going to do then?"

Harry furrowed his brow, "Well there is certainly something up. This can't really be Knockturn alley. It's too quiet, I'd think there would be someone here even at this hour. Not to mention it really should be snowing this time of year."

"Do you have any idea what time it actually is? The moon isn't up right now and I can't see enough of the sky through the narrow building to see any constellations." Blaise said.

"You can tell time by the night sky?" Harry asked, intrigued.

"Well no, but I figured we could at least get something of an idea from its orientation. After all we have been taking astronomy for a while now." Harry nodded, although it hardly mattered as they had no way of knowing if where they were even followed normal rules of time.

"So what should we do?" Blaise continued. "I don't see any point in staying here, and it is getting a tad cold in just my underclothes." Harry noticed that too, whether where they were was real or not it certainly felt real and Harry was cold even in his pajamas. He could guess what it night be like for Blaise wearing what amounted to nearly nothing. In fact, now Blaise was shivering.

"Well, I suppose we just pick a direction and walk." Harry said, not seeing anything else they could possibly do. Blaise simply nodded, and they started to walk down alley in some random direction. Blaise was now holding his arms in front of him shivering and Harry had his hands in his pockets. They both could see the mist of their breaths as they walked.

And then they reached a door. It was a strange door in that it appeared to be stuck onto the wall as oppose to being built there. Even the wall itself seemed a bit out of place as it seemed to jut out of the sides of the alley quite jaggedly as if it were put here after the fact. Harry looked at Blaise with a raised eyebrow.

Blaise shrugged and motioned towards the door, his arms held tightly around his chest. Harry took the hint and opened it. Beyond it was a rush of warm air and bright light. Both of them shielded their faces, their eyes long ago adjusted to the smallest starlight. The warmth more so than the light beckoned them and so, still shielding their eyes as they waited for them to get used to the light again they stepped through the door.

When Harry's eyes finally adjusted to the light and he could look around without squinting he noticed that they were standing on a path in what appeared to be a tropical jungle. Blaise was still blinking although he had removed his arm from his face. The door that they had come through had disappeared, leaving them no option but again to choose a direction and walk. It seemed even less relevant now as both directions looked rather identical so Harry just motioned one direction once Blaise stopped blinking. Blaise shrugged and they both started walking in that direction.

Ahead of them was a clearing with a person sitting in it. As they got closer they saw that the person was in fact a girl and that she was sitting in what looked to be an awkward position. Blaise called it lotus position and said he saw a lot of people in America meditating in it. As they got closer it was apparent that the girl was in fact Padma. Much like they were she was wearing what was obviously sleeping clothes. Her outfit was more similar to Blaise, her top covered with a female tank top, and her legs covered with longer leggings, as oppose to Blaise' boxers. Harry felt even more out of place now, both of them were wearing white and he was wearing faded yellow pajamas.

"Hello Harry, Blaise." She said without ever opening her eyes. Harry gaped at her, she opened one eye and peeked at him, "Oh come on! You can't think that after three months of psionics with you that there would be any question of who you were?" Harry's surprise subsided. After all she really was the star of the class, with the notable exception of the work on penseives.

"Um, you seem rather calm considering." Blaise stated, quite curiously.

Padma stood up and looked at them. "Why shouldn't I be? I have had weirder dreams so I figured that's what this was. Eventually I realized that it was more than that but being in the middle of a benign tropic isn't exactly my idea of scary so I figured why not make the most of it?"

Harry looked at her oddly. Then again he and Blaise hadn't exactly ended up in the most pleasant of places. He probably would have been much more positively inclined as well had he ended up here.

"So what do we do now?" Blaise asked no one in particular.

"I suppose I should ask you what happened to you. After all you both seemed slightly spooked when you entered the clearing." Harry then told her what had happened to him. Blaise followed with what happened to him and then they took turns relating the rest of the story to her until there was agreement that that was what happened.

"Hmm…" was her only response.

"What do you think this is?" Harry asked her, thinking that she, like Hermione, would know much better than him.

"I can't say." She responded. "But it seems rather obvious that it has something to do with whatever thing has been going on for this entire year. Like the random objects we all handed to Hermione for instance."

Harry thought about it, and he agreed that was the most likely explanation. "I agree, although that doesn't exactly explain what is going on. Like why we were all dragged into this crazy wherever we are in only our night clothes."

Padma thought for a moment. Blaise answered, "Maybe this is some sort of meeting ground or something? For some reason I have had this odd urge to search out people for some time and now it has finally gone away."

Padma and Harry both looked at him. "You know I think that might just be right." Padma said, "I have felt rather more outgoing than usual this winter…" Harry wasn't sure why, but he somehow knew Blaise was correct.

"Well, do you think this is it?" Harry asked.

Padma thought for a second before responding, "Well, I can't say either way. The first question is how do we get out of this clearing now isn't it?"

Harry was just about to suggest the path that they had come in on when he noticed that it was no longer there. There was no way they were going to get through the trees and they were so close together that Harry doubted anything but maybe ants could fit between them. The path had been the same way but as they had had a place to go and they were rather bewildered at the change, Harry hadn't noticed and he suspected that Blaise hadn't either.

"You don't have your wand do you?" Harry said with a hopeless sigh, he already knew the answer.

"Nope, I take it you don't either." She responded, both of them shook their heads.

"If only Wesley were here, he could turn into a saw or something and then we could at least get somewhere." Blaise said quite obviously annoyed. Padma and Harry nodded, although they all knew that wishing wasn't going to do them any good.

"Well… you could try it couldn't you?" Padma suddenly said.

Blaise looked at her oddly, "Metamorphmagus can't become non human let alone non living things." Blaise said, "And how did you know?"

She shrugged, "I saw you look slightly different on certain days and I asked Leon and he told me. Apparently you're not the only special wizard in our Psionics class. Leon said that learning to read auras can tell you a lot more about a person than just who they are. But he said that was seventh year material, so I don't actually know how to do it yet. He refused to teach me telling me that it was difficult to get accurate readings and that he wouldn't feel comfortable teaching that without a more proper background in it and at least a year of training." Padma looked dejected at this, although Harry was certain that was more of a childish response than anything. He was certain everyone in the class trusted Leon enough by now to trust his judgment on these matters.

"But you said that I wasn't the only other special wizard in the class? Whatever do you mean?" Blaise said, more than a hint of curiosity in his voice. "Well there is Harry of course, although everyone knows that." Harry blushed at this. "And there are at least two more that I know of, but I won't say who as that would be rather imprudent of me. Not to mention possibly get me expelled." Blaise nodded and didn't push the issue.

Harry and Blaise started to chat idly as they had nothing better to do and Padma just started looking around. "That's odd," she said, Harry and Blaise looked at her. "Why does the sky look further away at points? One would think being the sky that it would look more uniform…"

Harry and Blaise both looked up and indeed, the sky did look a bit awkwardly distorted. Harry wondered about it then something occurred to him. "Well… what if that isn't really sky? If it was instead sky charmed onto a flat surface and ceiling might it not look something like that?"

"That is quite possible…" Padma said, "Blaise what do you think?"

Blaise was squinting up at the sky in concentration, "I think there is definitely something funny about it. And it seems like Harry's theory is just as good as any that I can think of off the top of my head."

Padma then looked at the trees that surrounded the clearing. "Now that I think about it, those trees do look a bit flat to me now. I could have sworn they were actual trees when I got here though. I inspected them somewhat thoroughly."

Harry looked at her, "Considering that me and Blaise stepped through a door in Knockturn alley to get here it seems feasible that when you checked them they could have been more real." Padma nodded and then got deeply thoughtful.

Harry also started to think, but Blaise said. "While if they are not just images charmed onto a wall. Could we not simply knock it down? After all there are three of us."

Harry and Padma both looked at him, "That has a bit of logic to it." Padma stated intrigued, "But how do you suppose we do this? Just ram ourselves into the wall? We don't exactly have a large object to use handy."

Blaise thought for a moment, "Well we could just see what pushing against the wall does. It is at least as logical as anything else that has happened to us so far." Blaise reasoned.

Padma snickered, "You have a point, care to try your idea out?" Blaise shrugged and simply walked over to the wall and gave it a small push. As if it was a simple cardboard wall it fell over and flat revealing a rather large dark orange-is colored stone room with nothing but a single door. Like the other door Harry had gone thought it didn't look like it was part of the wall but rather stuck on it after the fact.

As if the entire clearing was braced on that one wall, it all fell down too leaving a rather oddly colored floor and ceiling (which was still blue, at least right above them). The other parts of the room were much more shadowed as if the light was being produced right where they were and significantly dimmed after leaving the previous area that was the clearing.

"That was odd." Harry said, not being able to think of anything much better to say at that moment.

"It seems as if the intention was not to make it difficult to go on." Padma said.

"Shall we?" Blaise motioned towards the door.

"Might as well." Harry responded, after all there wasn't much else they could do other than gawk as the oddness of it all. Padma nodded and so they went through the door.

The sight on the other side shocked them. The room was similar to the previous room except instead of light being produced from the clearing it was much more shadowed and there was no blue spot on the ceiling or the floor. Instead there were chains dangling from the ceiling in the middle of the room. That wasn't what caught their horrified attentions though, for hanging form them was Justin, unconscious and completely naked.

"What is this…?" Blaise asked no one but himself.

Harry was too shocked to respond. After the pleasant clearing this was totally unexpected.

"Come on, help me get him down." Padma said, and then she again showed her total lack of shame but running over and bracing herself on the naked boy to try and remove his chains. Blaise and Harry quickly snapped out of their shock and ran over to help her. Blaise was the tallest one there so he worked with the locks while Padma and Harry tried to hold Justin still so Blaise could work.

"Damn!" Blaise swore, "Either of you know how to pick a lock? I was never very good at it."

Harry shook his head, he hadn't had the chance to learn at home and here Hermione had showed him _alohomora_ before he had ever thought to learn and so he had never bothered. Padma also shook her head.

"Well this is just great!" Blaise yelled, apparently at the locks.

"Is Justin's wand here by any chance?" Harry asked semi hopefully. Blaise looked at him as if he was an idiot. Harry had to admit it was a long shot, even more so than with the rest of them. Justin didn't even have clothing to have it hidden in.

"So what do we do now? We can hardly leave him here." Harry said angrily. Blaise was also angry, Padma looked helpless. None of them could think of anything to do.

"TheyARE locked…?" Harry asked, in one desperate attempt at a hopeless gesture.

"Yeah, I already thought of that…" Padma stated.

"Well I can't think of anything." Blaise said, "I don't want to leave him here but I don't see much choice…"

Padma thought about this for a second. "I don't think we have a choice. Look around you, there doesn't appear to be any exits. I think this is some sort of test alongside of being a gathering." She sighed, "Although this does seem rather hopeless."

Harry wasn't so certain of that. He looked. The door to the previous room was still there. Harry got up and went to the other room, Blaise and Padma just watched him curiously. He saw that the walls of the building were still there but that wasn't what he was looking for. He looked around slightly cursing the bright light generated from the center of the room. Sure enough, in a particularly shadowed corner was a rusty looking glint that was barely a different color from the floor. Sure enough it was an incredibly rusted key.

Harry rushed back into the room with Justin holding the Key which he quickly handed to a slightly startled Blaise, who was tall enough to comfortably unlock the manacles which neither Padma nor Harry were. Sure enough the key worked and Padma and Harry were left to catch Justin's unconscious body.

With no way to wake the unconscious boy, Harry and Padma, who were closer in height than Padma and Blaise, held him between them with his arms over each of their shoulders. His feet were still dragging on the floor as he was an inch or so taller than them but there was nothing they could really do about that at the moment.

Blaise offered to carry him, but Harry wasn't certain that he could. Justin wasn't that heavy and he also was slightly smaller than Blaise but both Harry and Padma were a bit worried he might drop him.

As soon as they had Justin's body secure, the three of them noticed a strange spinning whirling pool of what looked like some form of jelly. Having no other place to go and realizing that this was likely their "easy route forward" as Padma had put it before, they stepped up to it, looked at each other, nodded and then jumped in.

They landed in an empty but otherwise nice room set in Slytherin colors. The room was lit from a rather nice silver chandelier inset with green candles and the walls and ceiling shined as if it had been polished recently. As with the stone room there was a door however this door was cleanly shining like the rest of the room and was clearly set in its frame, unlike the other two doors Harry had gone through previously.

With nowhere else to go and Justin's body getting heavy, the three of them went through the door. What they found there was almost as amusing as the scene with Justin was horrifying. In fact, Harry thought that had that not been etched into their minds it might have been even more amusing. For taking up the majority of the room was a quite eloquently furnished cage, which would be a very nice room if it wasn't surrounded by bars.

In the cage was a very indignant Malfoy, sitting wearing a nightgown and a pointed hat drinking a glass of water. He was facing them when they entered the room and he immediately yelled, "Don't point that queer mudblood's…THING at me!" Harry would have normally gotten angry at that remark but it was so ridiculous given the circumstances that he couldn't help but laugh.

"What do you find so amusing Potter? No one should have to be subjected to the likes of that!" He motioned towards Justin with his hands and while actively looking away with a totally disgusted expression on his face. This only made Harry laugh even more.

Harry was too busy laughing and Padma responded. "You're trapped, in a cage, in some random house, and you're worried about a little nakedness?" Malfoy sneered in response, obviously not happy that they found his distaste amusing.

"For your information this isn't a random house it is my house!" He said, "Although there never was a cage here before." He then seemed to realize something. "What are you all doing here anyway?" He asked, as if the weirdness of it all was sudden and hadn't been permeating this entire experience.

Harry had calmed down so he answered, "Your guess is as good as mine. But I have a feeling that this is something beyond just the five of us." Malfoy just glared at him, as if to say 'duh,' 'it's all your fault,' and 'I still hate you' all at the same time but couldn't decide what to say first. Harry decided to ignore this and figure out why they were here. "Padma, why do you think we are here? What could Malfoy have to do with this?"

Padma shrugged, "I have no idea. I was assuming that if we ran into more people that they would all be people from our Psionics class or at least the DA. Apparently I was mistaken."

Blaise shook his head, "It's more than that, as Harry said, its more than all of us."

Malfoy looked at Harry, "Well, whatever you have dragged me into I refuse to have any part of it. So get along and get that vulgar display away from me." He motioned towards Justin's unconscious form again and stubbornly sat on the bed in the cage and continued drinking from his glass of water.

"I'm sorry to say this, but in every other instance we were only allowed to leave after we freed the person in question and even then there was only one exit for us to take. So it seems you're rather stuck with us." Padma said.

"Well then go back to wherever you came from!" Harry would gladly do so if he thought they could, but as he had suspected there was no jelly funnel in the ceiling. And even if there was it would likely be going down into the room, and without wands they wouldn't be able to get into it even if it was going up as the rooms they were in had ceilings that were four meters high at least.

"Sorry Draco, can't." Blaise said, "We kinda fell into that room. There is nowhere else to go. And I think there will be nowhere to go unless we get you out of that cage."

Malfoy scoffed indifferently, "Then I shall simply wait until I wake up and this dreadful nightmare ends." He then turned around and faced the other way, obviously making a point of ignoring them.

Harry turned to them, "Do you think this is a dream?" He said, for some reason it never occurred to him that it would be before.

"I don't think so. It just doesn't feel normal enough to be a dream." Blaise said.

"Yeah, dreams tend to not feel odd until after the dream is over. Plus it seems unlikely that we would all be having a communal dream." Padma quickly pinched Blaise' arm.

"OW!" He yelled and started rubbing his bicep, eying Padma suspiciously.

"So, Blaise do you usually feel pain in your dreams?" She smirked at him. Obviously there was something between them that Harry was missing.

"No, in fact I never do. But did you really have to pinch me that hard? I am going to have a bruise there for a while. Not to mention the fact that you pinched my wand arm!" He stepped away from her, eyeing her like an aristocrat might eye a known pickpocket.

She smiled at him smugly, "Well, there you have it. Not a dream." Harry was confused by this interaction. Malfoy pointedly ignored it completely.

"I suppose we have established that, but that still doesn't answer how we are going to get out of here." Blaise looked annoyed, then again Harry would be as well if someone had pinched his arm that hard. Harry could already see a bruise forming.

Harry was tired of such bickering, true it was much more playful than the constant bickering between Hermione and Ron, but he was getting tired of it none the less. Of course from experience he knew that the best way to stop it was to change the subject, so that's exactly what he did, since he had made a convenient observation while Blaise and Padma were taunting each other. "It looks actually like this cage is an open bottom cage, if I'm guessing correctly then it isn't actually attached to the floor. We might just be able to lift it." He mused.

Padma and Blaise looked at the cage. "I'm not sure if we can," Padma said. "It looks too heavy for us to lift."

Blaise looked into the cage, "Even if Draco helps?" He asked.

Padma thought a bit more, "Well, I suppose it can't hurt to try?"

Blaise turned towards Malfoy, "Hey, care to help us get you out of there so we can get on with whatever this is?" He asked.

"I told you to go away! I will have nothing to do with this stupid dream!" Malfoy responded without even turning around. He was still drinking water. Harry began to wonder where all this water was coming from, certainly he should have drank an entire pitcher by now and yet the pitcher looked like it hadn't had a glass poured from it at all.

"Well, let's just try then." Blaise suggested. Forgetting the pitcher for the moment, Harry nodded seeing nothing better to do. Padma nodded as well. The three of them then tried their hardest to lift up the cage. They were able to get it barely a centimeter above the ground before someone's arms gave way and the cage dropped to the floor again.

"That was heavier than I thought." Blaise said, wiping sweat form the exertion off his forehead.

Padma looked at them, "Do you think we could do it if Justin were awake?" She asked.

Harry thought and then it hit him, "I think we could." He then walked over to the cage. "Hey Malfoy, can I see your water for a minute?" He asked.

Malfoy faced him and responded quite venomously with a sadistic smile on his face. "Why of course Potter. Why don't you just come in here and get it?"

Harry just frowned at him. "Draco I'm serious. I don't think this is a dream and I really think we need your help to get out of this."

Draco stared at him, "I don't know what you're playing at Potter..." He bit out viciously.

Harry cut him off, quite annoyed but strangely not angry. "I'm not playing at anything Draco. I just want to be done with this."

Draco looked at Blaise, then Padma, and then Justin's body which he quickly turned away from. "Ok, ok. But only because I want that mudblood's sickening form away from me as soon as possible!"

"The water then," Harry said, reaching through the bars. Draco refilled his cup and then handed Harry the pitcher. It just barely fit though the bars and it occurred to Harry that he might just be able to squeeze through them himself. He then looked at Draco and realized that Draco was just a tad too big for that. It was almost as if the water pitcher itself was cut to be the exact space between the bars, and that was only slightly too small for Draco's lithe form.

Blaise looked at him funnily but Padma smiled and quickly ran to Justin, obviously getting what he intended to do. She propped up his head with her hands and then nodded. Harry threw the water out of the pitcher at Justin's head. To Harry's surprise, a much larger amount of water came out of the pitcher than he had expected drenching both Padma and Justin entirely. Justin started to cough and then shivered. He also waved his hand about drearily obviously not totally conscious, but waking up.

The pitcher seemed to have the same amount of water in it that it had before he through it. Harry then realized that he had soaked the legs of his pajama's through and figured now was as good a time as any to discard them. After all he was wearing briefs and a t-shirt underneath them, and this t-shirt was so big on him that it covered his briefs anyway. It was then that Harry realized that Draco had made no mention of his attire whatsoever. So maybe their relationship had changed? Became less childish perhaps.

While Padma continued to nudge Justin awake, Harry unzipped his pajamas and simply left them there, happy to be rid of them now that he thought about it. Harry then turned to Justin who seemed to be more conscious now.

"Wha…?" Justin started as he woke up staring into Padma's face. He then instantly went from somewhat out of it to obviously fully aware as he stood up quickly and covered his crotch self-consciously.

"Don't bother," Padma started nonchalantly. "You don't have anything that we haven't seen at this point. We carried you here after all." She spoke as if there was nothing odd about lugging the naked body of an unconscious friend around. Then again, considering what was happening to them at the moment, it wasn't all that odd. Justin still didn't remove his hands. His face was getting quite red.

Blaise walked over to him, "Justin we kinda need a hand with something, which requires your hands." Justin didn't respond. _Bad move_ Harry thought, remembering his experience with Blaise and a human bench. Blaise sighed and grabbed Justin's shoulders turning him to face the cage. Justin dropped his hands. He didn't seem prepared to be grabbed in his current state at all. "We need your help opening that."

Justin's mortified expression turned to one of confusion. "Sorry, I was a bit shocked that's all." He said, still obviously nervous but his curiosity was getting the better of his nervousness. "What is going on?"

Blaise shrugged, "Beats me, but at the moment we need to get Draco out of that cage. And we need your help to do it."

Justin stared at the cage, his hands covering his crotch again, although it seemed it was more out of etiquette than mortification. "I don't think we can lift it." He said after thinking for a bit. "It looks pretty heavy…"

Padma groaned, "Justin's right, unless something magical helps us there is no way we are going to get him out of there. We barely lifted it an inch before our arms gave way, I doubt Justin's help will really make a difference…" She sighed and sat down before continuing. "Making the suggestion at all was just a desperate move on my part…"

Blaise then looked at them, "There has to be a simple way out of this. Obviously we are missing something. The others had a very simple solution."

Harry then got an inspiration, "Draco, I think you need to help us lift the cage." Draco raised an eyebrow at him, but did move towards the edge of the cage. He was obviously not happy about this but it seemed to finally occur to him that this wasn't just some bad dream that would eventually go away.

Padma stood up, "I think we all need to do this together…" She said before grabbing the cage. Justin stood next to her and grabbed the cage with one hand, his other hand still covering himself. Harry and Blaise each grabbed it as did Draco. They started lifting and it didn't seem any lighter than before.

"Justin, use both hands! You're not really helping!" Blaise yelled. It was instantaneous. As soon as Justin stopped self consciously covering himself and put himself into the lifting, the cage flung straight up surprising all of them, the cage disappeared into the ceiling and the room now looked like the cage was never there.

Draco immediately grabbed the sheet off of the bed and tossed it to Justin. "Please cover yourself. This is bad enough without being subjected to your nudity." Draco then pointedly faced away from Justin, who glared at him through squinted eyes. Despite this Justin still covered himself up with the sheet, folding it around himself in a makeshift toga.

Harry looked around for the exit, they had freed Draco what more could this forsaken place want?

Blaise looked around. "Ok…we obviously were supposed to work together to get out of the cage… Now how are we supposed to get out of here?"

Harry noticed that there was more than one cup on the table and found himself rather thirsty. The pitcher of water seemed to have some form of infinite charm on it. While he was certain Draco would protest his stealing of the precious infinite supply of water, he also didn't really care. While he expected Draco to complain about Harry taking the water, he had not expected Draco to snatch the pitcher out of his hands. Harry lost his grip on the pitcher and Draco apparently never had one because the pitcher fell to the ground and shattered.

Draco looked like he was about to shout but before that Justin, Padma and Blaise screamed. Harry quicklysaw why.Without the pitcher to contain it whatever spell was generating the water continued to do so and the room was very quickly flooding.

The five of them rushed towards the door but for some reason the water started spinning like a whirlpool and they were snatched away from it at the last second. The door was forced shut by the water and Harry was certain that with the rapids and the weight of the water that they would never be able to get the door open.

As they were running out of air space and the ceiling forced them under the water, Harry thought they were doomed so he shut his eyes. The water no longer seemed as cold in fact it was getting quite warm. Also it seemed to be lifting him. He couldn't breath but his body wasn't suffocating either. It was almost as if his breathing had been shut off. It occurred to him that this was what they were supposed to do to move forward although he wondered what insane person had thought of it, all of this really.

He then gasped and shot into open air. The sudden change of sensation forced open his eyes and boy was he glad of that. He had been launched into open sky, a firebolt floating there for him to grab the only thing between him and what seemed like an eternity of sky in every direction.

Harry looked around, Blaise was on an old Numbus 1000 model and Justin was on a Comet 260. Padma was on an old Shooting Star and Draco was on what appeared to be his trusty Numbus 2001. Harry surmised that each person was on his or her own broomstick.

Harry was about to yell out to the rest of them when it suddenly started raining snakes. At first Harry wasn't that surprised until Padma yelled, "Ah! Don't let them bite you, their vipers!" At this point Harry went into gear and started dodging.

"_Help me!_" All of the viper's seemed to say simultaneously, Harry was so startled that he almost fell off his broomstick. Harry watched as they fell around him continuously, all of them saying "_help me_" every so often. While their bite was deadly venomous, the snakes didn't seem to be attacking them at all. Harry decided to be the Gryffindor and take a risk. Much to the others dismay, he caught one of the falling snakes which quickly wrapped itself tightly around his arm. It was soon readily apparent that there was in fact only one snake falling because as soon as Harry caught it the rest of them disappeared.

"_I'm so glad it's you! I didn't know what to do…_" Harry suddenly recognized the voice. It was odd to notice a voice in parseltongue but he had heard him speak it. The only other person he had heard speak it was Voldemort. He had never heard himself. All it sounded like to him was his own normal voice.

"_Ernie?_" He asked the snake.

"_I would hug you if I could. Don't you ever tell anyone I said that!_" Ernie, for it was now obvious to Harry that that is who it was, made a small biting motion in Harry's direction. Harry shrunk away from the deadly jaws. He knew Ernie wouldn't hurt him on purpose but with something like a viper he wasn't going to take any chances.

"_Don't do that!_" Harry said to him, "_You know if you bite me and I die then you're stuck falling again! Why are you a viper anyway?_"

Ernie looked at him, "_I was having a dream about becoming an Animagi and I ended up here falling and unable to turn back. I thought I was still dreaming and then you showed up. Then I wasn't so sure that it was a dream. Harry? What if I can never turn back?_" Harry didn't know what to say so he just listened.

"_This may seem trivial but the fact that I can't blink is getting rather irritating._" Harry snickered, "_I know you laugh but I am so used to blinking that not having eyelids is a rather odd experience…_"

Justin stared at him for a moment, "What isit saying?" He asked.

Harry wasn't sure what to say. He was certain Ernie didn't want to be "outed" as a parselmouth especially not like this. He looked down at him. "_Did you hear that?_"

Ernie seemed to do the closest thing a snake could do to a scoff. "_I can still understand English you know!_" An indignant tone sounded rather odd in parseltongue and Harry was somewhat wierded out by it, although it made it clear that this could be no one other than the boy he knew.

"_So? What should I tell them?_" Harry asked.

"_I don't know… I suppose the truth… I only hope Justin will speak to me after this…_" Harry detected a hint of sadness in his serpentine eyes. He obviously expected the worst.

Harry looked at Justin, then at the rest of them and said, "Ernie says hi." The group stared at Harry as if he had grown a new head. "Yeah, I know. Weird isn't it?" Harry tried to lighten what he was saying. But it was clear that no one was buying it. Justin looked quite uncomfortable, Blaise looked intrigued. Padma's expression was just plain odd.

Justin then looked at him again, "Um… Ernie?"

Ernie looked over at Justin and then did his best to nod. Justin responded by getting more uncomfortable and Ernie pulled back towards Harry, obviously hurt. Justin looked at them fearfully.

Blaise looked at them, "Ernie… I remember that day, the snake. I was on the opposite side of the platform as you. The day Harry spoke to the snake. You looked tired and scared. You… You're a parselmouth aren't you?"

Ernie faced them, and slowly nodded before hiding his head in his coils around Harry's arm. Justin paled, he looked betrayed. Harry wouldn't have this. He didn't want to see such good friends broken up over something so trivial. "Justin... Ernie was scared. He was about to tell the snake to stop you know. I just beat him too it." Justin stared at Harry. "He then saw how everyone treated me and it scared him to the core. Imagine him growing up as a parselmouth in the wizarding world knowing people would think him a dark wizard for something so trivial. Neither of us grew up there so it was new, but to him it was just confirming what he had been afraid of his entire life. Please don't cut him off. He really is afraid that's what you'll do. That's why he didn't tell you." Harry looked into Justin's eyes again before continuing. "And don't say that he should have trusted you. It's not that simple and we both know it."

Justin looked at him. He then flew over to them and cautiously held out his hand. Ernie slowly moved his tail over to it. Justin felt it, he seemed rather uncomfortable but that didn't surprise Harry given the situation. Ernie then removed his tail and curled it around Harry's arm. "_I'm sorry for not telling you._" He said.

"He says he sorry for not telling you." Harry said. Justin nodded.

"Ok now that that sob story is over. How do we get out of here?" Draco said, clearly feeling good that he had waited as long as he did before interrupting.

"_I want to bite that git._" Ernie said.

"_No you don't. That would make you a murderer, and I know you don't want that._"

"_Yeah I know. I wouldn't actually DO it. I don't want to bite anyone. I don't even know why I took this stupid form!_" Ernie seemed annoyed with himself.

"You know it is rude to have private conversations." Draco said. Justin gaped at him.

"Oh whatever, it had nothing to do with anything anyway. I do want to know how we are supposed to get out of here though." Harry said, he was getting annoyed with this entire situation quite quickly and Draco was not helping.

"_Hmm…wait. What do you mean go on?_" Ernie asked confused.

"Honestly it really doesn't surprise me that you turned up as a snake. This whole ordeal has been really odd." He then went on to explain the ordeal so far. Ernie was shocked at how they found Justin. He then laughed as best as a snake could at the whole sequence with Draco. He then asked Harry again if he could bite him, just a little. Harry snickered his way and then said it was a bit morbid to be joking about something that horrible. Ernie agreed.

Justin then, out of the blue, let go of his broomstick and fell. Harry went to catch him but he just seemed to disappear into the sky. _Of course!_ Harry thought. It would be that simple. Blaise and Padma had already let go. Draco was just staring at the sky below where they had disappeared.

"Best to just do it quick," Harry said. He then turned to Ernie "_Hold on tight._" Ernie then began constricting Harry's arm much too tightly. "_Not that tight!_"

Ernie let out a hissed "_Sorry, not used to this remember._" Harry then let go and fell. It felt rather odd as he fell below the sky he felt like he was swallowed up by the color blue before he found himself sitting on a couch in what appeared to be a…pub?

Sitting at the pub was none other than Cho. "Huh? What is she doing here?" He asked himself. Upon further notice it was clear that he was drunk off her rockers. There were at least five empty cups in front of her and she was clearly drinking fire whisky.

No one else could be seen, "_Where is everybody?_" Ernie asked. _At least he's still on my arm_, Harry thought.

"Hi (hic) Harry, Ernie. How's it goin? (hic)." Harry stared at her.

"_How can she tell it's me?_" Ernie asked quizzically.

Cho surprised them both again by answering. "Of course it's you silly. Who ELSE would be wrapped around Harry's arm like that? Well…maybe thirteen roses. Or was that beyond the brick wall?" Harry stared at her. Had Ernie been able to blink, Harry imagined him blinking in confusion. "I digress though. What brings you to my abode?"

"_Her abode?_" Ernie asked.

"Why of course my abode, who ELSE would live here silly." Harry then looked around and they were no longer in a bar, now they were in a simple living room. He also noticed that Cho was no longer swaying drunk. No it appeared she was now just plain nuts.

"Ernie, I like you that way. You're scales really go with your green eyes. Of course it would look better with a squirrel and some rutabagas. That's it! I will make a rutabaga cheesecake." She then mumbled to herself more as her statements started making less and less sense.

"Um Cho?"

"Yes Harry?" She stared looked at him quizzically.

"Um… What exactly is going on here?"

"What? Would you prefer a rutabaga pound cake? Or maybe rutabaga ice cream? Oh I got it! You want rutabaga crepes! I heard you always liked crepes! I'll be right back!" And with that she stormed through a little door that Harry was certain wasn't there before leaving an even more confused boy with a just as lost snake around his arm.

"_She has gone totally nutters._" Ernie said.

"Yeah, and apparently in this strange world she can speak parseltongue."

"_Either that or she is just so out there that she can't tell that I am a snake. After all, she did know exactly who I was._" Ernie said. Harry thought that was more likely. Although it did bring up some interesting questions about insanity that Harry would have to ponder later.

She then came in dragging Draco with her. "Look who I found. Silly boy was lost in the drawing room." Draco looked quite freaked, and his face seemed relieved if not happy to see Harry and Ernie.

"What is this Potter? Are all your friends' psychopaths or something?"

"Sometimes it seems that way yes." Harry deadpanned. Ernie snapped at him again causing Harry to swing his arm away from his face.

"_I could get used to this._" Ernie said.

"_Stop doing that or when I get my wand I will turn you into a rutabaga and give you to Cho to put in those crepes!_"

Ernie got what Harry looked at as a look of horror on his face and nodded. "_Sorry, yeah it would be a bit scary. But don't ever threaten me with that again. What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?_" Harry responded with just a victorious smirk.

Cho then came in with a strange radish shaped thing. Harry wasn't sure what a rutabaga was but whatever she had didn't look like any vegetable Harry had seen. And it certainly wasn't anything resembling crepes.

"Well, I didn't have any rutabagas so I just brought in a galladonia root. Don't eat it though it will cause a nasty blister to appear in your stomach. I really wish we had rutabagas… Hmm… Well I suppose I will just have to make mandrake crepes instead."

Harry's eyes went wide and he said, "No thank you I am not in the mood for crepes."

"Oh ok. So what brings you three here?"

Harry couldn't think of anything to say. Draco sighed, "You owe me Potter." He said under his breath.

"He owes you what? I have a lot of stuff here I could pay you back for…"

Draco cut her rambling off. "Before you are possessed any more by Lovegood…" Draco explained what had happened. Cho seemed interested and remained silent for the entire time.

"Ah yes that explains a lot." She said. "So what should we do about this eh?"

Harry couldn't tell if the old Cho was back or if it was just more insanity. Harry then had a thought. "Cho have you seen Blaise or Padma?"

"Oh them? Yeah last I saw they were wandering in my rutabaga patch." Harry wondered… But she said. Then his eyes grew big and he ran out the door. It appeared to go outside to a garden where he could see two figured desperately covering their ears in the distance. There was a plant that Harry recognized as Devil's snare in the process of prying Blaise' hands off of them. Harry didn't know what to do.

Suddenly Cho appeared and said. "Those naughty plants, they shouldn't be hurting my friends that way." She then ran out to them without flinching and somehow lit the entire garden on fire. Blaise and Padma seemed to be in a worse situation now, or would have been had Cho hadn't just picked up both of them each in one hand and carried them over her head out of the garden. Harry and Ernie stared at her more. Blaise and Padma seemed totally shocked.

Upon entering the room, Draco looked at them all with a raised eyebrow and then said, "I don't even want to know."

Cho then looked at them all, "Were you looking for Cho and Justin?"

Harry had been so shocked that he had totally forgotten about Justin. "Um…you know where Justin is?" Harry asked, wondering why she referred to herself in the third person.

"I will bring them to you." She then left through yet another door that Harry swore wasn't there before. A few minutes later she returned with a very bewildered Justin who was now wearing shorts and a t-shirt and Cho. Harry stared at the two Chos in front of him.

"Harry?" The new Cho asked. Harry nodded. "I am so glad to see you! I have been trapped in this strange ever-changing house with that insane…me for a good hour or so. She is driving me crazy!"

The other Cho looked at them before saying, "Touchy, but don't you all have something to do? After all, the rutabagas won't pick themselves. In order for them to be picked you have to skip down the purple brick road."

Everyone just stared at her again. Even the normal Cho was bewildered instead of greatly relieved. "Um… Yes we will have to do that." Harry said to her.

"It's this way come along." Having seen what she could do Harry, Blaise and Padma quickly followed. Justin and Cho also immediately followed. Draco lagged behind but obviously didn't want to be left in the house with the strange girl any more than the rest of them so he followed as well.

To Harry's surprise, she actually led them to a purple brick road. "Isn't it supposed to be yellow?" Was the only comment made and it came from Justin. Harry and Ernie seemed to be the only ones there to understand the muggle reference. Padma didn't respond at all. Draco and Blaise just raised their eyebrows.

"No silly, it's purple see. Now remember to skip or the rutabagas won't be picked. Also remember that two lefts is right but a right after a left is nothing. But just go straight and everything will work out." The odd Cho said before rushing off towards the house.

"Well…skip I suppose?" Harry figured that considering what had happened so far that it was completely logical that they would have to skip and that that would somehow get Cho's rutabagas to pick themselves or something. Cho looked at her funny but the rest of them, even Draco, just started skipping.

"_I hope we ALL aren't supposed to skip._" Ernie deadpanned. Harry was learning a lot about parseltongue expression just from listening to Ernie. He found it interesting.

So they skipped, and skipped and skipped and skipped until their feet hurt. After Harry started to consider that indeed Ernie might have to somehow skip they heard the sound of metal against metal in the distance. Harry then saw that they were no longer on the purple road but back in a similar if not exactly the same forest with a like clearing to the one that they had found Padma.

The major difference was that instead of a figure meditating there were two figures with swords. One was on the attack against the other who seemed to be haphazardly and uncoordinatedly fending for their life.

Harry was shocked, he recognized the attacker immediately. It was Leon. Harry ran forward, wondering how Leon had not killed his obviously unskilled opponent yet. When he got there he saw that the scene was different even than he thought. The person who was being attacked was Seamus and the Leon looked like he was about thirteen at best. Which Harry surmised meant he was in his early twenties. He wasn't nearly as composed as he fought now that he thought about it. His attacks were coordinated, but lacked the true skill of his adult counterpart.

The rest of them caught up at that point and Blaise and Padma stared in disbelief while Justin stared in horror. It was Ernie who finally acted. He dashed off of Harry's hand with a speed that Harry had only seen from a broomstick and coiled around the legs of the man. Harry remembered then that snakes could be incredibly fast. It was merely luck that basilisks are of the slower variety. Leon fell over and then froze.

"Ah, ah, ah," He said in a younger sounding but still recognizable voice. "A viper? Please don't hurt me. I…I don't want to be a death eater."

The people in the psionics class stared at this, Leon Saren whining? They had never imagined that in a million years. Ernie even seemed to stare. Or at least Harry thought so.

Seamus was staring at the snake. Harry wasn't certain if he was frozen in terror of the snake or shock that it had saved him.

Justin walked over to him, "Shay?" He asked nervously.

"Justin! Please get them away from me!" Seamus said before hiding behind the slighter boy quite unsuccessfully.

_So he is afraid of snakes._

Justin turned around and looked him in the face. "What happened to you?" He asked, ignoring Seamus' comment.

"I, just…get that snake away from me please!" He nearly yelled. Harry was shocked. Seamus never seemed that scared of anything.

"That snake is Ernie, so don't worry he won't hurt you." Justin's healer mode had kicked in and he seemed to have lost all his former misgivings with his friend.

Seamus stared at Leon who was now shivering in fear and then looked Justin deep in his eyes. Whatever he saw there Harry had no idea, but he nodded and got a little less terrified. "I was just here being attacked for some reason and then you all showed up a few minutes later. I was shocked to see Leon attacking me though… I for some reason had a sword and was somewhat able to defend myself. But boy is he strong."

Padma looked at the boy, "A dhampyr, yeah he would be stronger than normal. I bet if he were an adult he could have chopped you in half before you had a chance to defend yourself. I wonder why he is here though?"

Leon then stammered, "Please get this thing off me. I'll do anything. I don't like vipers…"

Harry thought about that for a second. I don't like vipers? He had heard of a fear of snakes but he had never heard of a fear of vipers other than the general fear of their generally deadly venom. Harry didn't want to take any chances to he went over and took the sword Leon was using before telling Ernie that it was ok and to back off. Ernie rushed over to Harry's arm really fast.

"_I could get used to this. I wonder if I am actually an animagus now? I hope I'm not permanently a snake._" Ernie said to Harry.

"Thank you. You're not Death Eaters? I could have sworn…" Then the scene began to shift and everyone present started looking around. Ernie dropped from Harry's hand and became a boy again. Leon himself disappeared into the blur until the background looked like the dream with all his friends that he couldn't remember but yet knew in great detail.

"You see? I knew you guys would do it. It was almost problematic for a bit. I wouldn't have wanted to see another failed batch, and it was getting close there. Waiting another decade to try for the trials again would have been such a bore." The eight of them turned to see Devon Witter smiling at them. "You're dream led them here. It was only that that allowed this to happen."

"My dream?" Harry asked. He would not have been surprised after all his dreams had been odd forever.

"No, it was all of your dreams. You all led each other here, through your collective bonds which show your true spirit. Only as a group could you succeed, will you succeed."

"I remember this place, you were all here. Unconscious and then zombie like. I was told by Devon Witter and Dennis Creevy that I would not remember this until I needed too." Padma said.

"_Yeah I remember it too._" Ernie said. Everyone stared at him.

"You just spoke parseltongue." Harry reminded.

Ernie blushed, "Sorry, been a snake for the last few hours." Seamus still stared at him. "I…I…"

"Let's worry about this later so we can GET OUT OF HERE ALREADY!" Harry agreed with Draco. Now was not the time to worry about who was what odd thing.

Harry then thought of something. "If we drew each other here than why is he here?" He motioned towards Draco, who actually nodded his agreement. "We aren't exactly buddies in fact we don't like each other much at all."

Devon laughed and then they heard another voice. "What brought you here was not like but trust. The bonds of hatred are just as strong as the bonds of friendship. They pull just as hard."

Harry turned towards where Dennis had just appeared. "But I don't trust him."

Dennis laughed, "Don't you? You trust him to be a git. You trust him to say what he wants and not care about anyone else. You trust him to look out for himself above all else. Can you honestly say that you ever distrusted him? Trust isn't necessarily positive. Think about it. Has he ever actually lied to you?"

Harry thought about it. He honestly couldn't remember a time when Draco had outright lied to him. Been mean and stated partial truths with the intent to harm. But he had never actively attempted to deceive him, at least not that he could remember. "You see?" Dennis continued, "Trust to do harm is still trust. For good or for ill, you all trust each other greatly."

"So why are we here?" Cho asked.

Devon answered, "You are the picked, those whom the school has picked to represent them in the trials."

"Trials?" Ernie asked.

"Yes, the trials. You have been the only group to pass the preliminaries. A few have tried previously. They all failed." Devon's voice was ominous.

"So you're saying that we were picked because the students wanted us?"

Dennis snickered, "Well, all but Harry…"

Harry through his hands up in the air, he had had enough of special treatment with the prophecy let alone something seemingly totally unrelated. "Why me? Is this a part of my prophecy too?" He yelled. The people there who didn't know about the prophecy gaped at him. He didn't care.

"No actually. The truth is that you already solved half of Slytherin's trial. You wee made a part of this when you did that whether you were worthy to be or not." Devon responded.

Harry thought for a second but Padma spoke up, "The Chamber of Secrets?"

"I believe you call it that now. That was never its intended name however." Devon's voice was still ominous. It was a trait that the real boy shared with his dreamlike counterpart. Even though this was obviously not the boy Harry knew.

"Wait…if what you are saying is true then Slytherin not only did not make that room to be a death trap for muggles but that it is a trial, presumably of more made by the founders?" Cho said in a moment of clarity. Harry saw why she was a Ravenclaw. She may not have been the keenest individual but she had an intuition about her that beguiled her casual demeanor.

"Yes, there is one for each actually. Although beyond that I cannot say more. Except that now you are going to go through them." That sounded much like a command as oppose to a statement.

"And if we refuse?" Draco said sternly.

"After this there is no refusal. You will go through the trials. It is only now a matter of when. There will be a time when you all get together, with very few others here. You will then all go through the trials. Why? Because the key to possibly saving your school lies there. Why do you think it has activated now? It shows up when the school is in great peril. Hogwarts had never been in such peril than it is now." Dennis sounded uncharacteristically serious now. It almost seemed as if Dennis and Devon represented different parts of the same person rather than two separate entities.

"Ok, but how?" Padma stated. "Other than the chamber, we have no clue where to begin?"

"Don't think you are doing this alone. There are others who are helping you. You are simply those who are going to do the actual deed. There are plenty of clues so far. You all are a part of them." Dennis and Devon spoke simultaneously in a very eerie fashion since their expressions were totally opposite. Devon looked deadly serious and Dennis had a mischievous smile.

"The basilisk Hermione made…" Harry said. That strange event made a lot more sense to him now.

The rest of them gaped at him. Then Padma got a look of inspiration, "That is what those random things were for? So Hermione could make a basilisk out of them?"

Harry nodded.The rest of them had looked of recognition on their faces but said nothing except Draco who said. "I always wondered why I bothered giving her anything at all. I figured that I had gotten her that toilet seat to torment her. Although how I could ever think that would work is beyond me." He seemed to take solace that his idiocy was the result of his mind making sense of a magical geas.

"You know another who failed. He will indirectly help you to accomplish your goals. Now I have given you everything you need. Just listen to those around you and the path will open." They both disappeared and then everyone but Harry and Ernie disappeared as well.

"You two wondered about your teacher? He will help you." Devon said with an uncharacteristic smile. "I show you two this because you are most prepared to see it. It is hard but you have experienced harder. It will also affect you the least." Ernie looked at Harry confused. Harry shrugged back.

They both then saw a short scene. A thirteen year old looking Leon was next to a blond boy of about sixteen or so. Harry figured they were the same age. The blond boy was wearing a Ravenclaw robe and was staring at something, but as they were facing him and had no control over what they saw whatsoever they could not see what he was staring at.

Harry looked closely at this unknown blond boy. He had green eyes that shined even more brightly than his own. They were a cross between aqua and emerald really and seemed to shimmer like water. Unlike Draco's blond head, this boy's hair was golden, and the darkness seemed to shine off of it just as much as the light. It was really short and straight, cut much like Leon's hair was but with even less bangs.

The boy's face was deathly pale and Harry couldn't tell if that was just his facial expression or if that was his natural skin color. He looked rather normal of build and honestly he thought the boy wouldn't stand out at all except his eyes and possibly his hair. Although the scene was dark accentuating the brightness of both. The scene was dark and still so they couldn't see much else.

Harry and Ernie looked at each other confused before the scene began to fade away. Devon looked at Ernie for a second before saying, "Oh and it looks like you lucked out. You will have to figure out how to actually change on your own. The preliminary trial can grant powers and apparently you got animagus." Devon then smiled and Harry found himself shunted up into a sitting position.

The eight of them were now sitting on the floor in the great hall in their original varied states of undress (though Ernie was not a snake). The tables were obviously filled for breakfast and more than a few people were staring at Ernie and Justin's nudity.

The teachers seemed shocked at this except Dumbledore who had a curious twinkle in his eye, Snape who had a bolank expression on his face and Leon who had an ominous look of recognition. Harry groaned. This was the last thing he needed…

Afterthoughts

Here you are: a GIANT chapter to make up for my long cliffhanger and relatively inane following chapter. Also it appears that my reviews are working again. If you are the moderator that fixed them, than thank you. If they just work now magically, then well it means you call can still review, which is really all that counts.

Some of you may notice that Cho was not in the original dream. I added her later so you can imagine that she was always on the list of names or you can go read her there. As for the rest, the plot is starting and I hope you all like it. This is a LONG chapter and so I want to see good reviews of it. I put a lot of effort into it and I hope it shows. More changes, I made the boy a Ravenclaw, because he is that now. That isn't particularly important to this story, but it will greatly effect the prequel if I ever write it.

Hope you like this.

Nightlit – All ya need is a little HOPE.


End file.
